“Once there was a tank called Puttenahalli Puttakere….”

As many may have noticed, BBMP has been cleaning our little Puttenahalli Lake in J.P. Nagar 7th Phase, for nearly a month now. After ‘dewatering’ the lake, they began to remove the contaminated soil, from the surface in some places and further below at others.  A fortnight ago, these pits filled with black water and at other places, damp patches formed where weeds began to grow. The underground water was getting exposed by the digging we thought, but the patches became pools which grew in number and size. 

 

A LEAKING PIPE:

On 3^rd February, our gardeners reported that water was entering the wetland through one of the inlet pipes which discharged surface runoff from South City. We contacted the apartment complex immediately. They checked and rechecked. This inflow wasn’t from South City.

 

Was this leakage from the newly installed UNDERGROUND DRAIN (UGD) that BWSSB had laid last year? 

The ward office sent a contractor to locate the source and plug it. By then, there was some seepage from below the inlet pipes as well. He suggested that we block the pipe with sandbags. The back flow would indicate possible source which could  be repaired. We did as he asked.

 

The sandbags remained in place and dry though the seepage from below the pipes increased as did the water level in the lake! In just four days, i.e., by Sunday 7^th Feb., many of the pools had not only grown but, they and the trenches dug by the excavators had vile, floating mass which was visible from a distance. We knew only too well just what it was - sewage. Once again. 

 

THIS IS NOT THE FIRST TIME

In 2017, an occasional trickle of sewage from the UGD at Nataraja Layout began to enter the lake through the storm water drain. Each time, the BWSSB Ward Office removed the blockage with a jetting machine. When it became a regular feature, we escalated the issue to the Head Office, but no action was taken. The polluted water led to a massive fish kill in March 2018.

We desperately tried to alleviate the damage by installing an aerator fountain in April 2019. However, infuriated with the sewage overflowing on the road, the residents of the layout opened up the drain and led it directly into the lake on 3^rd June 2019. Sewage started to gush inside. 

 

LAYING OF THE (NOW LEAKING) UGD:

In deep anguish, we were on the verge of giving up altogether when we appealed to Sri Jayaram, then Chairman, KSPCB and later at a meeting of the NGT Green Tribunal Committee chaired by Hon'ble Justice Sri Santosh Hedge. Sri Tushar Girinath, then Chairman of BWSSB who was present at this meeting agreed to get the existing UGD replaced with a bigger one but warned that the slum could be an obstruction.  Nevertheless, he kept his word and work began in August 2019.

 

Working between the sewage filled lake on the one side and the illegal houses on the other, progress was very slow. All the while, the slum dwellers kept a keen watch and, nervous for their safety, even picked up fights with the workers.

 

 

At the stretch where a few houses came in the way, BWSSB compromised by laying that section of the pipe on the REVETMENT on the water side. This exposed pipe developed cracks and the contractor’s patchwork repair gave way at least twice in January 2021. 

 

Now, not only was this section leaking yet again but along with it, the entire length of revetment along the new drain was damp and foul water was collecting to form pools. 

 

 

BWSSB responded at once to the alert and worked till the early hours on 11^th Feb, to clear the blockage. They are still at it today. While we appreciate their prompt response, jetting or temporary measures will not do. They need to come up with a permanent solution if the lake is to be saved. 

 

COULD ALL THIS HAVE BEEN AVOIDED?

Yes. If only the government had acted on the Order of the Hon’ble High Court of Karnataka, passed on 7th March 2019 in W.P. Nos. 5073 – 5187 / 2015 (GM –RES).  These Writ Petitions filed by the slum dwellers were disposed of with a direction to (1) Principal Secretary (Revenue), (2) Deputy Commissioner and (3) Slum Board to take a decision on the slum dwellers’ representations (to the Deputy Commissioner on 23.09.2014) where they asked for allotment of individual plots instead of the temporary sheds already built for them by the Slum Board (and which they demolished in July 2018).

 

The Court gave twelve weeks’ time to the Respondents. On the 7th of March, next month, it would be two years since the High Court passed the order. The authorities concerned are yet to take any decision.

 

Time and again, we reminded them of the High Court order and the urgency for early action, given the sewage inflow. Frustrated at the Respondents passing the buck from one to another, we met the Additional Chief Secretary (Urban Dev.), the Chief Secretary (twice) and emailed the Chief Minister of Karnataka. In Jan 2020, we filed a case with the LOKAYUKTA to take action against the errant officials for dereliction of duty.  The next hearing is on 3rd March but, going by our past experience, we are fairly certain that the matter will get postponed further.  

 

HOW LONG CAN A BUND THAT IS ALREADY WEAK, HOLD UP, BEFORE ENDANGERING THE SLUM DWELLERS?

Way back in Sept 2017, we had alerted  BBMP and all the Respondents about the poor condition of the bund on the slum side. The inner grill had tilted in places and sections of it had fallen down.This happened because these residents had levelled the slope at many places to grow vegetables, fruit and flowers. In the process, they dislodged the boulders that were embedded on the bottom half of the revetment. On 28^th May 2020, one of the houses on the bund collapsed and was quickly rebuilt. Since then, the bund has grown considerably weaker. The inner grill is almost nonexistent.

 

BBMP planned to strengthen the bund once the lake basin is cleared of the sewage sediment. With the UGD still leaking, and likely to do so in the future, what will they do now?

   

THE OUTCOME?

Our Puttenahalli Lake which looked this on 19/04/2019

Looks like this today, 12/02/2021

From 2010, working closely with the BBMP, residents from the neighbourhood and CSR partners, we toiled to bring a dry lake back to life. We overcame several obstacles on the way but 11 years later, the biggest two still remain – encroachment and sewage.

We have no words to describe our feelings at this point. If this situation continues we, and you, will soon have to say, “Once there was a tank called Puttenahalli Puttakere….”

PNLIT Trustees

Why do we even bother about Puttenahalli Lake?

It is with deep anguish that we are sharing the news of a house in the slum on our lake bund collapsing in the rain on the night of 28th May. Fortunately there was no loss of life or injury to anyone. 

House collapse, 28th March 2020

The Hindu, 30th March 2020

After seeing how extensively the slum dwellers had damaged the revetment by leveling the slope for their kitchen gardens and planting by the edge of the water, we had alerted the concerned authorities in Sept. 2017. The boulders had become dislodged, the walking track was uneven and sections of the inner grill had fallen down.  

We are particularly upset because this would not have happened if only the slum dwellers had shifted to the temporary sheds that the Karnataka Slum Development Board (KSDB) had built for them in 2014 at Bettadasanapura. By now, they would have been staying in 1bhk flats.

Rejecting the temporary accommodation as too small, they had filed a writ petition in February 2015 in the High Court asking for 20 feet x 30 feet sheds or individual plots of land. However, this didn't stop them from taking possession of the sheds on 24.02.2017 even though they continued to stay at the lake premises. When the matter was in the court, they razed 114 out of 118 sheds to the ground in July 2018. KSDB filed an FIR at the Bettadasanapura police and left it at that. We learnt about this after reading a report in the newspaper.

Deccan Herald, Sep 2018

The High Court disposed of the writ petition on 07.03.2019 with a directive to Respondent 1 - Principal Secretary (Revenue), Respondent 2 - Deputy Commissioner (Urban) and Respondent 3 - Karnataka Slum Development Board that they "shall take a decision on the representations of the petitioners in accordance with law in an expedite manner in any event, not later than twelve weeks from the date of receipt of the certified copy of the order. The petitioners shall not be evicted from the property in question till the decision is taken by respondent Nos.1 to 3.”   

We personally handed over the certified copy of the judgement to each of the respondents and reminded them every so often about this order. The 12 weeks stretched to 14 months, the Respondents have still not acted on the judgment. Emboldened perhaps by this, by the fact that the Slum Board did not pursue the FIR at the Bettadasanapura police station, and by the direction in the judgement, the slum dwellers refused to cooperate with BWSSB and BBMP to complete the underground drain and divert raw sewage entering the lake. 

With some six or seven houses built right next to the pathway above the drain, BWSSB was constrained to lay a new line a few feet above the water (photo attached). 

On 11th June 2020, PNLIT will complete 10 years as custodians of Puttenahalli Puttakere. What have we achieved in these many years? 

• We are the first citizens' group to sign an MoU with the BBMP and become official custodians of a lake in Bengaluru. 
• We have encouraged others, individuals and RWAs, to become lake warriors. 
• With permission from KSPCB filled the lake with treated water from an apartment complex.
• Introduced a low cost water purification model with our Artificial Floating Islands that have since been introduced in some other lakes. 
• Installed an aerator fountain in April 2019.
• The once dry periphery of the lake now has rich green cover with  trees, shrubs and climbers.
• Since 2010, the  lake has attracted over 100 birds (ebird link), insects, reptiles and more. 
• Butterflies are swarming at the lake even as we write this.  

Aerial view, January 2020

Yet, when we look back we see the misery of a collapsed house, sewage killing the lake and weeds growing rampantly. 

Aerial view, May 2020

What we feel is the burden of challenges that seem insurmountable even after striving so hard to resolve them. And now, the deep worry that no more houses should collapse in the days to come.  

Ten years later, we are left with these questions:

If the government is not interested in protecting lakes, why do we worry about Puttenahalli Lake?

If they will not follow a High Court judgement, why will they listen to us, ordinary folks trying to save a lake in the neighbourhood? 

Why, indeed, should we bother about Puttenahalli Lake?

Update on the slum relocation

In our message of 21st August, we had informed you on the action taken by the BWSSB on the sewage issue. This one is to give you the update on the slum rehabilitation front. 

As you are aware, on 7th March 2019, the Hon'ble High Court had disposed of the Writ Petition filed by the slum residents with a directive to the Principal Secretary (Revenue), Deputy Commissioner (Urban) and the Karnataka Slum Development Board that they rehabilitate them "providing minimum facilities and amenities." Closure of WP 

To ensure that the government takes a decision before the deadline of 21st June 2019, we had followed up the matter with the Respondents themselves or with senior officials in these departments. When the deadline passed without any action being taken, we had no alternative but to seek the intervention of the Chief Secretary, Govt. of Karnataka. Mr. Vijaya Bhaskar was kind enough to meet us yesterday, 22nd August in his office.

The Chief Secretary then spoke on the telephone to Mr. Balraj, Technical Director, Slum Board, about their plan to rehabilitate the slum dwellers. He has instructed them to follow the court order and initiate construction of the apartments for the slum dwellers.

We then went to the Slum Board and met Mr. Kumar Easwar, AEE. The KSDB has already drawn the DPR for the apartments. They expect the housing units in three floors (G + 2), 1BHK, size 300 sq. ft to be ready for occupation in another 16 months.

Four years ago, the Slum Board had built temporary sheds at the same site in Bettadasanapura. The slum residents had rejected these as being too small and had filed the Writ Petition in the High Court seeking individual plots of land for each of the 115 petitioners. In Feb. 2017, they had taken possession of the sheds but continued to stay in the lake premises. In July 2018, they razed the sheds to the ground.

We fervently hope that they accept these apartments and not destroy or damage them in any way. Nor, for that matter file another Writ Petition!

With fingers crossed,
PNLIT team  

A different perspective to summer lakes

Over the last few days, the Bangalore edition of The Hindu newspaper has carried two articles on lakes, both involving our Puttenahalli Lake.

On 26th March, an article titled "Lakes turn into sewage pools" was published. In summary, it reports a complaint made by a citizen regarding the state of the lakes in Bangalore (including sewage and encroachment) despite more than Rs 200 crore of State money having being spent on them over the last six years, which has drawn the attention of the Upa Lokayukta. Many of us know that some of the rejuvenated lakes do not have caretakers and are hence falling into a state of disrepair. What bothered some of us was that the article was accompanied by an anonymous picture of a lake - our Puttenahalli Lake. (The article can be seen online here.) 

Given that the title of the article was incorrectly connected with Puttenahalli Lake, PNLIT trustees wrote to The Hindu informing it that the picture was misleading; that PNLIT is continuously monitoring the inflows and is prompt to take action to ensure that sewage does not enter the lake. 

Today, 30th March, the paper carries an article titled "Puttenahalli Lake is in better shape now". It reports PNLIT's efforts to keep sewage from entering the lake, along with a recent picture of the lake, which unfortunately, as with the first article, does not support the text. (The article can be seen online here.)

While not rushing to judge the intent of the second article, it brings our attention to two important aspects of lakes:

- challenges in lake management, including reckless acts such as burning, which we have posted about here

- life cycles of rain-fed lakes (most of Bangalore's lakes are rain-fed complex ecosystems). 

Life-cycles of rain-fed lakes

During a good monsoon, if the water from the surrounding areas is diverted to the lake, the level of water in the lake rises (June - December), as we have seen at Puttenahalli Lake this past year. With the retreat of the monsoon and the onset of summer, the water level starts dropping. In small lakes and ponds, while the deeper parts hold out, large portions dry out completely. 

Dr S. Subramanya from GKVK, while explaining the natural cycle of small lakes, had this to say about Puttenahalli Lake: 

The very fact that the water is still holding out at your lake is an indication that the ground water too is holding out. Let the water level hold on its own and let us allow the natural process to go on as it used to. Summer drying will breath a fresh life into the lake, once the pre-monsoon inflow starts. This is necessary to kill-off all the invasive plant species before the next monsoon arrives. This also gives us a chance to do the necessary repair-works in the lake-bed: get to work with spades to scrap-off those unwanted weeds, cleaning-up channels, drain pipes, etc.

While keeping this in mind, it must be said that for most people, the picture of a "lake" is one of perennial water. Along with BBMP/ BWSSB, PNLIT has been exploring the option of getting treated water (water that has been put through an STP) from nearby areas into the lake. This would ensure that a reasonable portion of the lake has water through the year. Jakkur Lake in north Bangalore is one of the successful treated-water lakes in Bangalore, and is now a potential model for Integrated Urban Water Management. (For more information, read here.) 

PNLIT is working to strike a balance. 

We hope that this information we have shared gives you a better perspective of lakes and gives you answers to the questions skeptics may pose when you talk of the "success" at Puttenahalli Lake. Dry lakes in summer should not be equated to "money down the drain".