It was a great victory, at least for now, for the warriors of the Kukkarahalli Kere Ulisi Samithi, (Save Kukkarahalli Lake Committee) who had staged a protest demonstration yesterday at the DC’s office demanding that the planned developmental work of the lake be stopped as it would damage the biodiversity of the lake and its surrounding areas and for the reason that desilting of the lake would lead to the complete drying up of the lake in the future.

They were demanding that the planned conversion of Kukkarahalli Lake and the land around it into a tourist destination be abandoned. They had also submitted a memorandum to the DC. Following this, the DC has now stayed further works at the lake area.

The good news, however, is the proposed developmental works will be back sooner than later, that is before the monsoon sets in, if we go by what the government does in cases such as this. Social activists and NGOs protest, and to pacify them for the time being the government authorities suspend the work and later resume the work with more vigour.

To give an example of this, we should recall a similar protest launched by the NGOs and a large number of citizens of the city when the government took up the developmental work atop Chamundi Hill sometime back. At that time, the reason given by the protestors to stop the work atop the hill was that the required NOC from the State Environmental Impact Assessment Committee was not obtained for commencing this work. The environmental clearance was also to be obtained from the central government. The authorities had not obtained NOC from the Karnataka Pollution Control Board to undertake this work.

However, the government has now obtained these NOCs from all the departments concerned and are going ahead with the work, without making any alterations which the protestors had demanded like in the multi-level car parking for 600 vehicles, a sheltered queue-line from the car parking area to the temple, a huge shopping complex with 116 shopping cubicles of 8×10 feet size etc. Here the NGOs’ demand made sense. Yet, the government stuck to its original plan rather adamantly. Sad.

Therefore, though the DC has for now stayed the ongoing works at the Kukkarahalli Lake site, it may resume after clearing any legal and environmental hurdles, if any, just as in the case of the developmental works atop the Chamundi Hill. Here it is for the good of the lake which can be saved only if it becomes a tourist destination like the Karanji Lake.

– KBG