The residents complained that they have written numerous letters to government officials, including the Prime Minister, but the issue has not been resolved.
The discharge of untreated effluents into storm water drains (SWD) has led to a rise in pollution levels in the lakes of Anekal taluk. A case in point is the Yarandahalli lake whose water has turned into sludge due to regular discharge of domestic waste and industrial effluents. Owing to the upstream location of Yarandahalli lake, other lakes like Kachanayakanahalli and Muthanallur also get polluted.
The residents complained that they have written numerous letters to government officials, including the Prime Minister, but the issue has not been resolved.
Nachu Kannan, a resident of RK Township, said: “The industries were closed and we could see clean water within the first 25 days of the first lockdown. The Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) hesitates to take action against polluting industries. The entire catchment area of Yarandahalli lake falls in the industrial area. Thirty-one red-category small-scale industries are connected to storm water drains and their effluents are discharged into the Yarandahalli lake.”
In the absence of a Common Effluent Treatment Plant (CETP), the industrial units have found an easy way to discharge their effluents in the storm water drains.
Kannan said the residents have requested that a CETP be set up in the industrial area, so that the effluents generated from the industries could be treated in a scientific manner.
Kannan said they have sent a letter to the PMO highlighting that alarming levels of grease and oil were found in water sample results of the Yarandahalli lake. “We have sent repeated complaints to various government bodies and authorities with video proofs and photographs of companies discharging waste into the storm water drains. Nobody has responded till now,” the letter to the PMO read.
Acting on the complaints of the local residents, the KSPCB on May 21 issued a show cause notice to the Panchayat Development Officer of Hennagara Panchayat for non-compliance of the provisions of the Water Act.
The notice stated that the desilting of Yarandahalli lake was conducted in an unscientific manner.
The officials of the KSPCB in their report also noted that water from the Yarandahalli lake flows directly into the Kachanayakanahalli and Muthanallur lakes without being treated in the sewage treatment plant.
The officials from the KSPCB said that the restoration of the Yarandahalli lake would be taken up soon. On Wednesday, hundreds of dead fish were found floating in the Muthanallur lake.
Officials said that dissolved oxygen in the lake should be above 4mg per litre and since industrial effluents enter the lakes, there is a reduction in the dissolved oxygen level which might have resulted in the death of fish.
Social activist Captain Santhosh Kumar said that untreated effluents from Bommanahalli industrial area flow into the Yarandahalli lake.
“Untreated effluents enter Kachanayakanahalli and Chandapura lakes. This results in the pollution of all the lakes downstream. We have raised the issue of industrial units discharging untreated effluents into the lakes on several occasions,” he added.
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