Bellandur Lake froths once again

BENGALURU: Bengaluru’s largest lake ‘Bellandur Lake’ has started to froth once again after a minor rainfall last week. Since April 20, 2019, the water body has been spewing toxic froth. Though the civic authorities have installed fence to keep the toxic froth inside the lake but the froth have risen above the fence and due to regular winds it has started to coming on the road besides the lake, troubling people on the road.

A local shopkeeper said the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) had built a sluice gate at the lake’s exit point, but it’s been of little use. “It is the same story whenever it rains,” he added.

Sonali Singh, a lake activist, said that civic authorities built a gentler gradient and also installed sprinklers to suppress the froth, but the problem persists.

A citizen activist said, “Instead of ad hoc measures like sluice gates, the civic authorities should focus on entry of untreated sewage into the lake. The government had said that it will clean the lake by 2020. Given the pace of work here, the promise can’t be a reality”.

The citizens of Bengaluru have also taken up the issue online by posting videos and photos of havoc created by the froth in ‘Bellandur Lake’ on twitter and asking civic authorities to take immediate actions.