Bellandur lake: NGT sets August 18 as deadline for clean-up

BENGALURU:The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has directed the city’s civic bodies to comply with its orders on Bellandur Lake’s clean-up by August 18.

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court had stayed the Karnataka High Court’s order, which had earlier stayed the Tribunal’s orders for not having the required jurisdiction.The HC claimed that only the Southern bench of the NGT in Chennai could have passed the orders. However, a Special Leave Petition (SLP) challenging the order was upheld by the apex court.

On Wednesday, the NGO Namma Bengaluru Foundation appeared before the Delhi bench of the NGT and submitted that the respondents had not complied with NGT orders on the ground of a stay of the NGT proceedings, though the Supreme Court has vacated the stay.

The Tribunal then asked the respondents to comply with its orders by August 18.The order comes as a relief to residents around the lake, who feel the progress of the lake’s clean-up has slowed down. In fact, one of their intentions to conduct the recently held ‘Bellandur kere habba’ on Saturday was to bring attention to this.

Sonali Singh, a resident of an apartment near the lake, said, “We are absolutely delighted with the order. Out of the things that the NGT had directed to be done, only de-weeding was carried out, and if the inflow of sewage is not stopped, the weeds will keep returning to the lake. The BWSSB has said an STP for the lake would only be completed by 2020.  A BDA official said works for the lake’s restoration had been going on even after the HC’s stay order. The official said while cleaning up the lake will take a long time, the NGT was setting timelines to ensure work went on.