GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
Ministry of: Environment, Forests and Climate Change

RAJYA SABHA
UNSTARRED QUESTION NO 2429TO BE ANSWERED ON 21.12.2015
Conservation of lakes and other urban water bodies

2429. Shri Rajeev Chandrasekhar

Will the Minister of ENVIRONMENT, FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE be pleased to state:-

(a) whether Government has any nationwide annual action plan for cleaning, restoring and conserving lakes and other urban water bodies in the country, especially in Karnataka;

(b) if so, the funds allocated and expenditure incurred on pollution control measures for urban water bodies in Bengaluru; and

(c) what is the current status of the National Plan for Conservation of Aquatic Eco-systems implemented by Government in Bengaluru?

Answer
MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) FOR ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE (SHRI PRAKASH JAVADEKAR)

(a) to (c)This Ministry has been implementing the National Lake Conservation Plan (NLCP) for conservation of polluted and degraded lakes in urban and semi-urban areas of the country, including Karnataka, on cost sharing between the Central Government and respective State Governments. To have better synergy and avoid overlap, the NLCP has been merged with the scheme of National Wetland Conservation Programme (NWCP) in February, 2013 into an integrated scheme of National Plan for Conservation of Aquatic Eco-systems (NPCA) with the objective of conserving lakes and wetlands in a holistic manner.

Based on the proposals received from different States, this Ministry has so far sanctioned projects for conservation of 63 lakes in 14 States, including Karnataka, at a total cost of ?1096.09 crores under the NLCP/NPCA for various activities, which include interception, diversion and treatment of pollution load entering the lake, de-silting, de-weeding, bioremediation, catchment area treatment, lake beautification, etc. So far, an amount of ?623.64 crore has been released as Central share to the States for the sanctioned projects, which includes an amount of ?11.62 crore released to Government of Karnataka for conservation and management of five lakes in Bengaluru, namely Vengaiahkere, Nagvara, Jarganahalli, Lal Bagh and Bellandur. Work on all these five lakes has been completed.