Sir,

I stay close to the Lingambudhi Park which is abutting the Lake. I take regular walk in the Park and around the Lake very often. The Lake capacity has been increased recently with construction of bund all around and fortifying the surface with stone abutments and clearing the weeds in the Lake.

Last year, by the month of May, the Lake was full and overflowing. It was a good sight to watch after many years of neglect. It was so full that the residents of Preeti Layout adjoining the Lake had to appeal to the authorities to fix the rusted sluice gate which was otherwise not closing, thus posing a waterlogging in the area.

This year even though there is plenty of rainfall and we are now in August, there is no sign of Lake water level increasing at all. The Lake is not getting even the rain water from the surrounding areas and the suspicion is that even the drain water may have been blocked or diverted to somewhere else. This reminds us of a similar situation with regard to Kukkarahalli Lake last year. After the then DC took interest to investigate, it was discovered that the underground pipes carrying the drain water were blocked from all sides.

If necessary intervention is not done immediately with the Lingambudhi Lake, it may dry up sooner than later. One hopes there is no vested interest in allowing such a thing to happen. Already there are enough encroachments surrounding the Lake and many layouts have sprung up.

I request all conscious citizens to please alert the forest division concerned and also the MCC/MUDA authorities to look into the matter with the urgency it deserves.

– Prof. B.S. Shankara (retd.), Mysuru, 14.8.2018

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