NGT asks for DPR on work in Yelahanka Puttenahalli lake

Bengaluru: The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has sought a detailed project report (DPR) for the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike's (BBMP) project to build a pipeline inside the Puttenahalli lake in Yelahanka and extended the stay on the controversial work.

In its order dated July 4, a bench of Justice Pushpa Sathyanarayana and expert member Satyagopal Korlapati said the June 18 interim order staying the BBMP's work "would continue until further orders".

The bench noted that "not much progress" after the Forest Department, the custodian of the lake, said that the BBMP and the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) were in the process of preparing a detailed project report (DPR).

"The BBMP and the BWSSB are directed to file their reports along with photographs and sketches explaining the distance between the raja kaluve (storm water drain), the lake and where the sewage line is situated," the tribunal said.

After the sewage from the northern and western areas entered the lake in May, the BBMP illegally dug up the walking path of the waterbody to install hume pipes to carry the sewage and storm water to a sewage treatment plant nearby.

Taking up any work in the lake, declared as a bird conservation reserve, requires authorisation from the wildlife authorities. The BBMP's project taken up without authorisation had prompted the Yelahanka Puttenahalli Lake and Bird Conservation Trust to move the NGT, which stayed the work on June 18.

In its latest order, the NGT directed the officials to provide details of the width and the carrying capacity of the drain as well as the hume pipes.