Froth affects the famed Bellandur cauliflower crop

By Afshan Yasmeen

BANGALORE, APRIL 22. The famous Bellandur cauliflowers that are a favourite of Bangaloreans may become dearer now. The crop, grown in over 25 acres of the catchment area in Bellandur, has been affected due to the overflowing froth and sewage water from the Bellandur Lake after the recent heavy rain.

Though froth formation has started again, it has not assumed last October's proportions when it blocked the bridge in the village causing traffic disruption.

The froth has subsided considerably now. But a pungent smell emanates from the lake and pervades the area around the bridge.

Residents of this sleepy hamlet on the outskirts of Bangalore city have learnt to live amid increasing levels of pollution and the billowing froth.

They use the same slushy water for irrigation and for domestic purposes. They are totally dependent on borewell water for drinking. Though the Bellandur Gram Panchayat has been pleading for drinking water supply from the Cauvery and has even deposited Rs.1 lakh with the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) for connection, nothing has happened till date.

Froth formation in the lake is not a new phenomenon for the villagers. ``We are helpless. Agriculture is our occupation and we have to use the same water to earn our bread and butter,'' said Mr. Lakshman.

Mr. Lakshman and several other farmers like him have lost crops worth over Rs.25,000 each owing to last week's rain. They allege that the industries and factories in the neighbourhood release toxic effluents into the lake. ``Please stop the flow of sewage into our lifeline (lake) and save us from serious health hazards,'' said farmers, Jayaram, Srinivas, Muni Reddy and Narayanappa.

In the past five years, the discharge of sewage containing industrial effluents from the industries and factories along the Challaghatta valley into the lake has been a bone of contention between the State Government and the environmentalists.

Last October, after the lake had witnessed severe froth formation, the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) banned certain industries for letting out untreated effluents.

``The Board had promised that measures would be initiated to save the dying lake. But the formation of froth again indicates the rise in the flow of effluents into the lake. At least now the State Government should act to prevent further contamination of the ground water here,'' the Bellandur Lake Protection Committee Honorary General Secretary, Mr. R.Ram Murthi, told The Hindu on Sunday.

The pungent smell that pervades even in the neighbouring villages proves beyond doubt the presence of highly poisonous chemicals in the lake water, he said.

``The carrying capacity of the lake is deteriorating day by day. Hence, the effluents and other waste that are being let into the lake are not getting disintegrated,'' a former Environment Secretary, Mr. A.N.Yellappa Reddy, said.

The KSPCB authorities, who took samples of water from the lake for analysis, told the Bellandur Gram Panchayat that the froth accumulation was due to untreated sewage from the BWSSB treatment plant and detergent content from the garment factories which had entered the lake.

``The functioning of the BWSSB Sewage Treatment Plant in the Challaghatta valley was affected for a few days due to lack of power supply. As a result, untreated sewage is flowing into the lake,'' the authorities said.

``But merely charge-sheeting the garment factories is not enough as chemicals are being released into the lake by various other industries too. Only a sample analysis of the water by a private laboratory will reveal the real culprits. But even if that is found out, the industries can hoodwink the Board and show them that they have treatment plants. There is no ethics among these polluters,'' added Mr. Reddy and Mr. Murthi.

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