A sweeping digital survey has laid bare a severe environmental crisis in India's tech capital, revealing that the vast majority of Bengaluru's iconic lakes have been swallowed by illegal encroachments. The findings paint a grim picture of a decades-long assault on the city's vital water heritage.
The Alarming Scale of Lake Encroachments
The statistics are staggering. In Bengaluru Urban district, 730 out of 837 lakes have been illegally occupied, resulting in the loss of a colossal 4,229 acres of public land. The situation in the surrounding rural areas is even more dire, with a shocking 90% of lakes under encroachment. A senior revenue department official highlighted that the drastic change becomes painfully clear when comparing historical maps of water bodies with current satellite images.
This pattern of lake-related land grabs is not confined to the city. The disturbing trend is spreading to neighbouring districts like Kolar, Chikkaballapur, Ramanagara (Bengaluru South), and Tumakuru. Statewide, the numbers are equally concerning. Out of 41,849 lakes covering 7.7 lakh acres across Karnataka, encroachments have been reported on 14,442 lakes, consuming 43,307 acres. Hassan district, which has the highest number of lakes in the state at 6,861, has seen encroachments on 2,814 of them.
A Tech-Driven Intervention to Reclaim Water Heritage
In a significant move to combat this crisis, the Karnataka government launched an extensive digital-mapping initiative in March 2024. Jointly executed by the departments of minor irrigation and the state survey, settlement and land records (SSLR), this project is being hailed as one of the state's most advanced environmental interventions.
This initiative marks a decisive break from the past reliance on outdated, often tampered, paper sketches and flawed land records. Authorities have deployed a 500-member team, including 480 personnel at the taluk level and a technical head office team, to execute the project. Using a combination of drones, high-resolution satellite imagery, ArcGIS mapping, and rover-based ground verification, they have created precise, tamper-proof digital profiles for each lake.
"Digital mapping has enabled us to identify illegal encroachments with clear evidence," said Rajender Kumar Kataria, Principal Secretary (Revenue). "Many old records were either tampered with or misplaced. With digital records, we can expedite the legal process and reclaim public land. We can clearly demonstrate that the land is a lake and not designated for private use."
The Future: Transparency and Swift Legal Action
Each lake's digital dossier now includes exact GPS coordinates, ownership details, clearly marked boundaries, and high-resolution, time-stamped images. This robust evidence is expected to transform lengthy legal battles over lakebeds, which were previously hindered by conflicting maps and missing documents.
SSLR Commissioner J Manjunath confirmed that 95% of the survey work is complete, with buffer zones marked and encroachments identified. "This digital survey is crucial for preserving and protecting our lakes," he stated. All the information is being uploaded to a centralised Web GIS platform, which will serve as an authoritative reference for all government departments. While currently for official use, this database will eventually be made public to promote transparency and citizen awareness.
The project represents a new hope for Bengaluru's dying lakes. By providing irrefutable digital evidence, officials believe it will drastically reduce forged claims and empower courts to resolve encroachment cases swiftly, paving the way for the restoration of the city's critical ecological lifelines.
