Reviving Arkavathy river near Bangalore- hits dead end-DUE TO POLITICS
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BANGALORE:
Work on reviving the Arkavathy river, once the only source of drinking
water for Bangalore, has hit a wall. Dead along several of its
stretches, the river's rejuvenation is expected to bring water to
Thippagondanahalli reservoir and play a significant role in quenching
the thirst of Bangaloreans.
On Wednesday, an encroachment clearance drive along the river basin spearheaded by the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) was stopped at Madanayakanahalli, off Tumkur Road, Nelamangala taluk. The drive has been taken up in the catchment area of Arkavathy river from Nandi Hills to Thippagondanahalli, to facilitate the water body's rejuvenation.
House owners and farmers belonging to 20 villages in the area staged a protest, saying they were kept in the dark about the rejuvenation project. With elections round the corner, the issue has acquired political colours with local politicians putting pressure on the government to stop the project and not disturb people living along the river course.
On Wednesday, an encroachment clearance drive along the river basin spearheaded by the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) was stopped at Madanayakanahalli, off Tumkur Road, Nelamangala taluk. The drive has been taken up in the catchment area of Arkavathy river from Nandi Hills to Thippagondanahalli, to facilitate the water body's rejuvenation.
House owners and farmers belonging to 20 villages in the area staged a protest, saying they were kept in the dark about the rejuvenation project. With elections round the corner, the issue has acquired political colours with local politicians putting pressure on the government to stop the project and not disturb people living along the river course.
www.travelingbeats.com Pictures|Arkavathy Dam|Chunchi Falls
Speaking to TOI, members of the
Arkavathy-Kumudvathi River Rejuvenation Committee (activists and
citizens group formed in 2005 to save the river) admitted that the
rejuvenation drive faces the risk of losing momentum due to political
and bureaucratic hurdles.
Doddy Shivaram KC, heading the committee, said a GoK notification dated September 18, 2003, made it clear that no person shall carry on activities other than agriculture or agriculture-related activities within one km of the banks of Arkavathy and Kumudvathi rivers. Kumudvathi is a tributary of Arkavathy.
Shivaram said documents obtained through RTI have revealed that the authorities who are supposed to meet every month to oversee the implementation of notification have met not more than thrice in the last decade.
"Not just houses, illegal layouts have come up close to the river course. There is dumping of solid waste and quarrying activities as well," he added.
Another committee member, on condition of anonymity, said that a legislator, who spearheaded the rejuvenation drive during 2013 appeared to have reversed his stand as he was found supporting protesters recently. Also, an MLC who figures in the list of encroachers is playing politics to stop the rejuvenation work, he added.
A senior official of the BDA task force formed to clear encroachments said they started clearing encroachments near Tumkur Road, following a recent high court directive on the same. "We will bring the fresh developments to the notice of the court and act accordingly," he added.
Doddy Shivaram KC, heading the committee, said a GoK notification dated September 18, 2003, made it clear that no person shall carry on activities other than agriculture or agriculture-related activities within one km of the banks of Arkavathy and Kumudvathi rivers. Kumudvathi is a tributary of Arkavathy.
Shivaram said documents obtained through RTI have revealed that the authorities who are supposed to meet every month to oversee the implementation of notification have met not more than thrice in the last decade.
"Not just houses, illegal layouts have come up close to the river course. There is dumping of solid waste and quarrying activities as well," he added.
Another committee member, on condition of anonymity, said that a legislator, who spearheaded the rejuvenation drive during 2013 appeared to have reversed his stand as he was found supporting protesters recently. Also, an MLC who figures in the list of encroachers is playing politics to stop the rejuvenation work, he added.
A senior official of the BDA task force formed to clear encroachments said they started clearing encroachments near Tumkur Road, following a recent high court directive on the same. "We will bring the fresh developments to the notice of the court and act accordingly," he added.
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Minister hauls lax administration over coals
The Hindu
Sand mining from the Arkavathy river bed near Suganahalli village near Bidadi. Photo: Deepa Kurup
Sand mafia runs unchecked, loans not reaching welfare beneficiaries
The Bangalore Urban district administration was lambasted by district
in-charge and Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy for its lackadaisical
attitude in controlling the filter sand mafia.
Reviewing the functioning of various departments on Saturday, Mr. Reddy
said he was shocked to learn that the district administration had failed
to lodge police complaints against the filter sand mafia.
He also discovered loans offered by the Welfare Department were not
reaching the real beneficiaries… an admission made by the officials
themselves!
The Minister sought to know why the district administration was silent
when filtered sand was being supplied to the city unchecked. The
officials plainly stated no police complaints had been registered
against those who were illegally extracting sand from river and tank
beds and that they had only levied penalty.
He asked the officials to file complaints against such persons and said
that if found guilty, they (members of the filter sand mafia) could be
imprisoned for two years.
Poor numbers
Mr. Reddy took the officials to task for not ensuring that the various
schemes reached the beneficiaries. This was after he was told that only
2,000 out of 95,000 eligible beneficiaries benefitted from the various
social welfare schemes, while pension for persons with disabilities
reached only 43,000 out of 95,000 eligible beneficiaries. He instructed
the officials to ensure that all beneficiaries were covered by the
government schemes.
Irate with the officials for coming to the meeting unprepared, he asked
them if they even went to their offices regularly and ordered them to do
their homework before attending the next review meeting.
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Hoysala King
© K.L.Kamat/Kamat's Potpourri
Metallic icon of Hoysala king Vishnuvardhana
Belur, Karnataka
Metallic icon of Hoysala king Vishnuvardhana
Belur, Karnataka
Royal Couple - Hoysala Sculpture
© K.L.Kamat/Kamat's Potpourri
Hoysala Emperor Vishnuvardhana and his Queen Shantala
Hoysala Emperor Vishnuvardhana and his Queen Shantala
Belur is known as Dakshhin Kashi, means Kashi of southern India. It occupies prime place among the Vashnavites of south.
It
is believed that this temple was built on advice of great guru saint
Ramanujacharya , when the king Vishnuvardhana embraced Vaishnavism. It
is also said that king Vishnuvardhana got this temple built in 1117A.D.
to mark his victory on Cholas in Talkad.
Basically, the Hoysala dynasty had their capital at Halebid where they ruled for over 150 years.
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BANGALORE: The trail of a dying river (Arkavathy) led us to the tale of a dead queen- Shantala. It was Rajanna, the sole shop owner at the peak of the Shivaganga hill who told us the story of the Shantala- the wife of Hoysala King Vishnuvardhan.
Shantala committed suicide atop the hill and immortalised the deep gorge which has been henceforth known as Shantala Drop.
Rajanna, though does not qualify to be called a historian, has been selling assorted items on the hill top for about 18 years now. “She committed suicide as she was unable to bear a child to Hoysala king Vishnuvardhan,” he says. According to him, with ‘inputs’ from Nagaraj Swamy- the pujari at the hill top temple, the queen prayed at Gangadhareshwara Temple and went up to the Nandi statue atop the hill on the day she gave up her life.
Shantala Drop is also one of those so-called suicide points.
Shivaganga is about 70 km from Bangalore.
An important tributary of Arkavathy called Kumudvathy originates from Shivaganga hills. The Tippagondanahalli Rerservoir, built at the confluence of Arkavathy and Kumudvathy rivers is one of the sources of drinking water to the city of Bangalore and surrounding areas since 1930s. Tippagondanahalli Reservoir in normal year, supplies up to 125MLD of water to Bangalore City and in recent years. The inflow to Tippagondanahalli Reservoir, according Karnataka State Pollution Document, has been decreasing.
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