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NH Project Puts 5 Lakes in Danger

  • The Committee appointed by the High Court on the impact of road widening on NH-7 has found that five lakes and several trees are in danger due to the widening. The proposed water bodies range between 100 sq mts to 3,000 sq mts and could cause immense harm to these water bodies if the highway is extended, fear the environmentalists.
  • The National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) has taken up further widening of Bellary Road and two months ago it submitted a report on Hunasemaranahalli Lake, situated next to Yelahanka Air Force Station, that about 1,200 sq mts of water body will be diverted for the road widening. Following this the High Court appointed a Committee and asked the members of the Environment Support Group to inspect the lake site. “The inspecting team found out that besides the water body there were several native tree clusters which have to make way for road widening.“When we went through the original highway widening plan it came to our notice that the NHAI has not mentioned anything about five lakes being encroached for road widening”, said Leo Saldanha from ESG.Shockingly the NHAI had submitted a report about only one lake to be encroached for widening, but masked the encroachment of five other lakes, alleged the committee members.
  • As per the orders of the Karnataka High Court ruling 1995, any lakes which are diverted for road widening and similar projects must take the consent of the Committee appointed by the Court. But in this case both the state government and NHAI kept the Court in the dark by not mentioning diverting other water bodies. It was only after the Lake Development Authority and local Panchayat opposed the diverting of lake land, that the NHAI approached the High Court. “The NHAI had submitted the initial acquisition notice on July 2nd, 2010. If this is the case, why did the NHAI approach the High Court two months ago? The Court has now sought a fresh report and the next hearing is slated for mid January. We shall present a detailed report so that the lakes are not made victims of road widening. Three major lakes, Gottigere, Hosakerehalli and Sompura are badly affected after the NICE Road," Mr Saldanha added.

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