Bengaluru: Federation of Bengaluru Lakes (FBL) has urged Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) to put on hold the proposed road expansion and other infrastructure projects affecting lakes, wetlands and buffer zones.It highlighted concerns over flooding, groundwater depletion and loss of green cover. The demand comes amid questions over GBA’s proposedroad circulation plan, which has identified alignments through Lalbagh Botanical Garden, lakes and forest lands.In a representation to GBA’s climate action cell, the federation said road widening, tunnel roads, underground drainage pipelines and sewage treatment plants within lake areas could damage the city’s natural drainage system and weaken its ability to withstand flooding and heat stress.It sought a lake-wise assessment of the proposed roads, including their impact on water-storage capacity, groundwater recharge, biodiversity and tree cover. The federation has also called for the disclosure of detailed project reports, traffic studies, environmental assessments and alternative alignments for public scrutiny.Questioning the need to divert lake land for road infrastructure, it said GBA should first complete pending Comprehensive Development Plan (CDP) roads, improve the existing network, remove obstructions and strengthen traffic management and public transport.Meanwhile, GBA’s urban planners said they had not been consulted during the preparation of the road circulation plan. An urban planner from one of the city corporations said the plan appeared to have been prepared by BDA. “Each corporation has an urban planning cell with an urban planner, urban designer and a transport planner. These plans seem to have been made without any inputs from GBA’s urban planning cell,” the planner told TOI on the condition of anonymity.Responding to TOI’s queries on roads proposed through Lalbagh, lakes and forest land, GBA chief commissioner Maheshwar Rao assured that no parks or lakes would be taken over for road works. “The intention behind the road circulation plan is to reduce traffic congestion in the city by expanding its road network, with emphasis on the outer areas of the city. The proposed plans are not final and may contain mistakes. We have invited objections,” he said.
