Central government has announced a Rs 665 crore aid package to Karnataka government to clean Bengaluru lakes. The aid will be used for setting up a 74 km long trunk sewage line and four sewage treatment plants.
"While Rs 500 crore would be spent on setting up a 74 km trunk sewage line to carry the waste, Rs 165 crore would be spent on establishing four sewage treatment plants at Bellandur lake, which was so polluted that it caught fire," said Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar.
The minister met officials from Karnataka on Tuesday to discuss the pollution abatement schemes and is likely to meet Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in May to finalise the roadmap.
Bengaluru has seen massive pollution in water bodies like Bellandur and Varthur lakes.
Meanwhile, under the banner of a community initiative named Whitefield Rising, the residents of Whitefield are up in arms over the deteriorating condition of the lakes in the area.
Whitefield Rising recently led a massive campaign against the toxic lakes which saw huge froth deposition and even caught fire at times.
Speaking to CNN News18, a Whitefield Rising activist Elangovan welcomed the central government’s move and stressed on several other measures to revive the dying lakes.
“Right technology should be used for the sewage treatment plants. The present technology can’t treat some nitrates and phosphates present as pollutants. Further, the aid sanctioned is not enough to address the concern of industrial effluents which remains a major source of pollution," he said.
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