BENGALURU: The state government on Thursday informed the Karnataka High Court that it has no objection to appointing National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) for audit of lakes in Bengaluru. The government advocate made this submission during the hearing of a public interest litigation seeking directions to prevent sewerage entering lakes through stormwater drains.
"The state has no objection if court appoints NEERI," the government advocate told the court after the latter asked the state to tell why it should not appoint NEERI for audit of lakes, as 15 lakes had 'disappeared' in the last four and a half years as per the statistics provided by Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP).
Taking note of it, the court said that it will pass the order on Monday. Meanwhile, on a lighter note, the court orally observed that we have to find out someone like Sherlock Holmes to locate the city's missing lakes.While adjourning the hearing to June 17, the court also reiterated that it is violation of Article 21 and public faith if the state does not maintain or restore the lakes.
Meanwhile, the copy of the report prepared by the then Lake Development Authority was submitted to the court. The report pointed out that there are 374 lakes in Bengaluru. As the Lake Development Authority was wound up, the court asked the government advocate to furnish the details of the said report on status of lakes in Benglauru.