Residents, greens stymie Councillor N.R. Ramesh's statue on island plan

It looks as if the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) is simply unable to get its act together. Even as it is in the news for the Rs.1,539 crore scam and fire in the office of the agency investigating it, it now appears that the civic authority has taken up work on a project that has not been approved by any department.

On Tuesday morning, residents of areas around Yediyur lake were in for a shock when they found its concrete embankment ploughed open and the water being diverted into a storm water drain. It turned out that the vandalism was to facilitate the installation of a 33-foot bronze statue of Swami Vivekananda on a man-made island in the middle of the lake, complete with fruit-yielding trees to attract birds, at a cost of a Rs. 1.5 crore. Labourers at the lake, who were removing the slush, claimed they had been instructed by Yediyur Councillor N.R. Ramesh.

Down the drain

T.B. Dinesh, a local resident, told The Hinduthat the level of water in the lake, whose spread is nearly one acre, has reduced by at least two feet. “All the precious water has literally gone down the drain.” He said that when he called Councillor Ramesh, he was told that the BBMP had taken up the statue project.

When members of Hasiru Usiru and Environment Support Group — NGOs working on environment issues — pointed out to the High Court order prohibiting any activity on a lakebed without permission, Mr. Ramesh said the work would stop. Later, Mr. Dinesh added, the labourers simply dropped everything and left, not even bothering to close the breach through which water was gushing into the storm water drain.

“A couple of us took it upon ourselves to close it as best we could. On Wednesday, more volunteers from the NGOs will gather early in the morning to repair the embankment,” he said. The volunteers have filed a case with the Jayanagar Police Station.

A senior official from the Lake Development Authority said draining the lake was clearly illegal and against the High Court order and that the LDA had not permitted any statue installation on the lake bed.

As for Councillor Ramesh, he said it had been taken up to inspire the youth. “I am also an environmentalist and I will not allow any damage to the water body. The lake was full of silt and the water samples revealed it was polluted. We had to drain the lake to install the statue.” He claimed that it would not be an issue to refill the lake once the work is completed. “There are four borewells in the lake area. We can pump water into the lakebed in two or three days.”

Changes story

Later in the evening, he changed his story and told The Hinduthe island would have fruit-bearing trees “to bring back birds”. So why the island? Because if the trees were planted alongside the walkway, “people will pluck the fruits, leaving nothing for the birds”. Asked why he did not seek permission for the sudden activity, he said “regular cleaning process does not require permission” and the two feet of water drained was to “help the cleaning process”.

Meanwhile, it transpired that none of the officials, not even Commissioner Siddaiah, had any idea about Mr. Ramesh's grand plan. Mr. Siddaiah said the project had not been approved by the BBMP. He said the civic authority would file a police complaint for the damage caused to the lake embankment.