Bengaluru: The govt’s notification of an amended law reducing lake buffer zones received sharp criticism from Bengaluru’s activists working on lake conservation.The Karnataka Tank Conservation and Development Authority (Amendment) Act, 2025 replaces the existing uniform buffer zone of 30m around lakes with extents of buffers based on the size of the waterbodies.
Tanks with an area above 100 acres will continue to have the 30m buffer. The buffer will be 24m for lakes of 25-100 acres, 12m for 10-25 acres, 6m for 1-10 acres and 3m for 0.1-1 acre.In addition to changes in buffer zones, the amendment also allows the construction of roads, bridges, water supply lines, high tension towers, and other infrastructure. However, permission for construction can be given only after ensuring that the original capacity of the tanks is not reduced. Sandeep Anirudhan, convenor of the movement ‘Bengaluru Town Hall’, tore into the govt for notifying the amendment when the matter is pending in the National Green Tribunal. NGT took suo motu cognisance of the amendment and issued notices to the state govt.“This is not just about Bengaluru lakes, but affects 45,000 lakes across the state. In the long run, the reduction of buffer zones will result in a food and livelihood crisis due to its adverse impact on agriculture and fisheries,” he said.Anirudhan added that the decision was taken to help the real estate mafia. “Buffer zones protect lakes from the contamination that accompanies development. These zones also hold most of the green cover. Reducing this will render the lakes unusable in a few years. Small lakes will disappear,” he added.Co-founder of Friends of Lakes, Madhuri Subbarao, challenged the logic behind reducing buffer zones for smaller lakes. “Small lakes fill up much faster during intense rainfall. The existing 30m buffer acts as a crucial safety shield, protecting nearby residents and infrastructure during breaches. Reducing buffer zones based merely on size is not a scientific or hydrologically sound approach to conserving Bengaluru’s fragile lake systems,” she said.Subbarao urged the govt to address the lack of planning instead of resorting to building roads, drains, and other infrastructure on buffer zones. “Lakes cannot continue to be the casualties of unchecked development, nor should critical environmental decisions be made without transparent public consultation and ecological expertise guiding policy,” she added.——No impact on Ulsoor LakeA senior official of Bengaluru Central city corporation said that there are only four lakes in the limits of the civic body: Ulsoor (106 acres), Kaggadasapura (47 acres), Kelagina Byrasandra (12 acres), and Chickpet Byrasandra (15 acres). Of these, only Ulsoor Lake will retain the 30m buffer. Kaggadasapura Lake will retain 24m, and the rest will have 12m buffer zones.
