When the Lake Development Authority (LDA) virtually handed over the Kelaginakere Byrasandra Lake on a platter to Bagmane Developers under the former's "Adopt a lake" scheme, the city would have thought that the lake had a hope.
But eight years after the agreement was signed, allegations of encroachment and land-grabbing are flying thick and fast — not only against the developer, arguably one of the city's most well-known and powerful, but also a host of corporates and a public sector undertaking. By LDA's own account 2 acres and 29.5 guntas of the lake area have been encroached. Kelaginakere Byrasandra is spread over 12 acres and 21 guntas of land.
The allegations at Bagmane Developers have been thrown by SR Hiremath of the National Committee for Protection of Natural Resources (NCPNR). The committee, which researched voluminous documents pertaining to the lake, has been able to come up with these accusations after almost four years of rigorous study. Hiremath and his associates, who visited the lake area earlier this week, allege that close to 40 per cent of the area have been grabbed.
Among those who are said to have encroached upon the ecologically-fragile area apart from Bagmane Developers are Cognizant Technology Solutions, Texas Instruments India, and the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).
At the centre of this controversy is Bagmane Developers, whose managing director Raja Bagmane is the nephew of former chief minister SM Krishna. Hiremath argues that since the developer allegedly had a long and chequered history of "land-grabbing", handing over the Kelaginakere Byrasandra Lake to Bagmande Developers was like handing over sheep to a butcher for their upkeep. The NCPNR activist also reminds that VG Siddartha is said to be one of the major stakeholders of the real estate giant.
According to documents in possession of NCPNR, the encroachments were first noticed way back in 2007. But despite LDA's notice to Bagmane Developers, nothing has happened on the ground. "The LDA is a toothless body. They don't do anything," says Hiremath. In fact, the LDA for instance issued a showcause notice to Cognizant Technology Solutions for "illegal possession" of 10 guntas of land on June 20 only after the high court directed it to do so.
Not only was Bagmane Developers encroaching on land, the LDA even found it discharging effluents into the lake (according to its August 27, 2007 response to V Balasubramanian, advisor to the Joint House Committee headed by AT Ramaswamy). Another map, prepeared on July 30, 2009 by the local tehsildar, showed that Bagmane Developers and their associates had apparently encroached a substantial portion of the lake area.
