The National Green Tribunal(NGT) on Wednesday slammed the state government and Mr.Nagaraj, SE, BDA for misleading information regarding the fire in the lake few days ago and also for not submitting a proper report in the matter of Bellandur lake’s fire issues. NGT was not convinced by the reports and the actions of the state and directed the Government to appoint a commission to inspect all the lakes and take appropriate action to prevent future fires.
The NGT went through the report of the state on the removal of macrophytes and cleaning three lakes — Bellandur, Agara and Varthur – and observed that the report was bereft of any material information and compliance with the tribunal’s direction.
The NGT has appointed a commission, which includes senior advocate Raj Panjwani, a junior advocate nominated by Panjwani, an IISc professor, Commissioner of BBMP, senior scientist, CEO of KLCDA and member secretary of KSPCB.
The commission has been directed to inspect records of all fire incidents in the lake till April 10 this year, the size of the lakes 25 years ago and till today, the extent of the lake covered by macrophytes, rate of removal of macrophytes and hydrophytes, extent of sewage being dumped in lakes, extent of silt and other deposits and their depth, quantity of municipal solid waste being dumped in and around lakes, extent of availability of treatment plants around lakes, and to check records of the Occupancy Certificate of all the surrounding apartment complexes from the local civic body.
REPORT:
75% of the industries and residential complexes in and around bellandur, kasavanahally, iblur, agara, kaikondarahally, ambalipura, haralur and all other lakes do not have CC nor OC. Most of the buildings have violated or deviated the sanctioned building plans and many have fake or bogus building plans.
During the course of scrutiny it is found that many of the so called A katha is not as per the law or the procedure. Buyers must be very careful.
The Banks does not check the authenticity nor the legal aspects of how katha is issued and approve the loan, hence, a thorough check is a must before buying A katha property without CC and OC. Even the buildings which have CC and OC must be thoroughly checked to find out the distance between the territory canal, secondary channel and raja kaluve and the lakes.
There are few residential complexes close to the lakes with CC and OC and the builders have done their diligent scrutiny and obtained the CC and OC, but due to the recent observation of the NGT, some, such complexes are said to be violative of the prevailing laws. But, the builders have not done anything wrong in these cases.