Bengaluru: Civic agencies in IT city Bengaluru on Friday carried out a spot inspection to know the exact cause of fire that reportedly emanated from a pile of garbage in Bellandur Lake, a day after thick clouds of smoke engulfed the lake and choked hundreds of residents living near it. The locals, however, termed the probe initiated by the state government as another "smokescreen" as they fear the real culprits will not be brought to justice.
It has been for the third time since such a fire engulfed the area. This time, however, the fire was almost 40 feet below the surface and it was becoming difficult to control it, said fire officer Ravi Kumar Chauhan.
"The fire started around 4 pm, however, we got a call at around 5:50 pm and the personnel at Sarjapur fire station immediately rushed to the spot. And we saw white smoke coming out of the burning of dry grass," Chauhan added.
The fire official was not sure what actually caused the fire. Locals informed that someone had lit the garbage which consisted of weeds and dry grass thrown in the lake.
“The combination dry grass and weeds immediately caught fire which might have been created due to presence of chemical effluents in the garbage," said Laskhman chairman of the Karnataka Pollution Control Board.
“There are around 640 sewage treatment plants (STP) on this lake bed while around 135 of them are not working. Most of these STPs belong to the small scale industries. They are pushing all these non-treated chemical effluents to the lake bed and making it toxic. For so many years, this issue was neglected but now the government has set up an expert committee to expedite the matter," added Lakshman.
So far, the state pollution control board has slapped 14 criminal cases on entities, including builders, who are responsible for polluting the lake. However, Laskhman opined that it would take them at least two years to solve this issue permanently.
“As an immediate measure we need to remove weeds from the lake so that another incident of fire can be prevented. The entire exercise to clear the weeds from the lake will take us two years," said Lakshman.
MLA Harris and member of Task Force for encroachment of Lakes, who visited the spot on Friday, said, “Our primary task is to ensure that by 2020 all these STP’s should be fully functional. No sanitary water should come to the tanks that is what we expect. This should have been done 25 years back. I agree that successive governments have abused it. Now, suddenly it cannot come out of it. All the industries and residential apartments should not be allowed to leave untreated effluents. We can expect a better result in another two years’ time."
Residents of the area, however, have not evinced much enthusiasm regarding the assurances given by the politician.
Neeta, a housewife, whose house faces just the area from where the fire emanated, said, “We have been living here for the past 11 years and even after highlighting this issue with successive authorities it has borne no fruit. I think the politicians want the lake to die as its price will shoot up in near future as a prime piece of land."
Recalling Thursday’s incident, Neeta's neighbour Diana said, “I thought it is a regular fire but when I saw huge white fumes, I immediately closed the window and asked other to do so".
“I am not hopeful that any action will be taken by the authorities. These are just empty promises which we have been used to hearing. However, over the years, people here are suffering from serious health issues. Asthma and bronchitis has become a common problem for people living in this area," she added.
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