Bellandur lake, whose restoration the National Green Tribunal is sternly monitoring, erupted in flames again on Friday.



The fire raged all day, keeping firemen busy well into the night. This is the fourth major fire at the lake. The last, in 2017, had broken out near the Bellandur bridge.



The lake is notorious for its toxic froth and fire eruptions. Its conditions had prompted the National Green Tribunal to take up a suo motu case against the government in 2016.



On Friday, officials claimed someone had set fire to the dry grass around the lake.



"It all started on the Yemalur side, near the defence land. Since the wind is strong, the blaze spread quickly," a fireman said.



Police and emergency services took the help of around 5,000 personnel from the adjoining ASC Centre and College to combat the fire. Twelve fire tenders were pressed into service.



"We were unable to get into the water to fight the fire, but managed to bring things under control by 9.45 pm. We are working with defence personnel to ensure the fire does not spread to residential areas," an official said.



As we go to the press at 10 pm, firefighters were still struggling to douse the flames in areas around Iblur, Challaghatta, Ejipura and Sun City. The fire was partially under

control.





