The battle for Byrasandra

This is one lake that has survived several assassination bids: first, they tried to fill it with rubble. Then, they filed petitions claiming ownership of lake land. Last, they cleared the decks for auctioning the lake.

The man who foiled all these attempts is 80-year-old Venkata Subba Rao, fondly called the ‘Lake Whisperer’ in recognition of his efforts to protect the 14-acre

Byrasandra lake

in

Jayanagar

. From 1992, saving the lake has been the mission of this former general manager of Reserve Bank of India (RBI). He has been working with

RBI Colony

Residents’ Welfare Association (

RWA

), a citizen group that is working for lake preservation.


In 1992, hundreds of debris-laden trucks headed for the lake, to fill it up as the government wanted to shift a nearby slum to the Byrasandra lake area. That was the first time Rao filed a petition before the high court, seeking protection of the lake land. Though the HC gave a stay order immediately, the case came up for final hearing only in 1998 and it read: “no human habitation can be made in the lake”. It was the first legal victory for Rao and the lake.

The next onslaught came in 1999 when three writ petitions were filed before the high court by 25 people who claimed that the lake was their ancestral property. Rao impleaded himself in the case seeking police enquiry and proved that the documents submitted by the petitioners were fabricated.

“Many individuals claimed the lake area to be their ancestral property. We could not have done anything but for the efforts of Venkata Subba Rao,” says Mohammed Nayaz Ahmed, 64, a businessman and member of the RWA.

In 2000, the RWA had to counter another legal battle when the same bunch of 25 people filed a fresh case in a civil court claiming ownership of the lake land. “We filed a writ petition in the high court. The HC dismissed the case and levied Rs 5,000 penalty on the petitioners. But they filed a special leave petition in Supreme Court against the HC order. We had to intervene again and the SC disposed of the case, saying, ‘Civil court may hear”. The petitioners further filed a miscellaneous suit, which we challenged. It was dismissed in the court,” he recalls. In those tough days, Rao got support from his neighbours, M Narayan and YN Narasimha Murthy.

Meanwhile, the government had spent Rs 1.2 crore on the lake, though there was little to show for it, besides fencing. Just as work was picking up, in February 2005, Rao spotted a notice pasted on the fence, announcing a public auction of the lake.

“Can you imagine a lake being auctioned?” says Rao. “A private builder had given the lake as collateral while taking loan. When the bank could not get its money back, it filed a case with the debt recovery tribunal. If only the bank staffers had visited the spot they would have known the collateral was public property.”

Rao moved court once again as one bidder quoted Rs 7.6 crore and paid 25% of the amount. The court granted a stay.

Matters came to a head in 2011 when the high court asked the residents to prove that it was a lake. They submitted documents and the court declared the auction invalid and directed BBMP to maintain the lake. “My sixth sense told me the bank may file a special leave petition in Supreme Court. Hence, we filed a caveat. The SC dismissed the special leave petition. We won,” says Rao.

Through his legal battles, Rao has had the help and support of father-son duo, advocates GS Vishweshwara and his son GV Chandrashekar. They appeared for the case free of cost. “Filing a caveat in Supreme Court when the lake was mortgaged would have cost us no less than Rs 2 lakh. But the advocate volunteered for our cause,” says Rao, who has spent lakhs of rupees from his own pocket.

The lake was handed over to Bengaluru Development Authority (BDA) in 2015 and residents ensure no waste enters the lake. They have taken several steps to enrich the greenery around the lake as well. Mohammed Ummer, 33, who runs NGO Project Smile, has planted 100 saplings and waters the plants. The residents’ next battle is a small one: sprinklers to water all plants.






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