Giving a major sign of relief to the Kolar's natives, the Karnataka High Court on Tuesday has asked the state government to stall the further supply of frothy Bellandur water to the Kolar district. The locals were getting a supply of poor quality of water due to the controversial Koramangala-Challaghatta (KC) Valley Project in Bengaluru, however, the court has now ordered to arrange a supply of the partially treated water.
A PIL filed by Shashwatha Neeravari Horata Samiti was heard by the bench, consisting of Chief Justice Dinesh Maheshwari and Justice R Devdas. The bench will again hear the case on August 1.
After the activists of Samiti came to know about the supply of contaminated water in Kolar, they had threatened to send the frothy water to legislators.
Highlights from the court's hearing
An activist who was presented in the court during the hearing of the case said that court was absolutely unhappy with the government's response to the contaminated water supply. "The court was not satisfied with the documents submitted on behalf of the government. In its opinion, the court expressed the quality of water is not up to desirable standards and said until the water is made to the acceptable standards water cannot be supplied," he told The News Minute.
"Similarly, dissolved oxygen levels were not fit enough for fish to survive in the water," the activist added.
Further, the court stated that the supplied water did not even meet the standards of water set for industrial use as the E.coli bacteria was found in the water.
At present, sewage water from Challaghatta, Koramangala, Bellandur and Varthur Lakes gets treated at sewage treatment plants located in Bellandur. Afterwards, it is released to Kolar, including a few tanks installed in Chintamani taluk of Chikballapur district.
Notably, the project was initiated by the Minor Irrigation Department during the regime of Siddaramaiah and the then state government implemented the project without analysing its impact on the residents and the environment.
