To,
Mr. Alex Jorgensen,
Senior Project Implementation Officer,
Asian Development Bank
India Resident Mission
37, Golf Links
New Delhi – 110 003
Meeting at KUIDFC, Bangalore on 08 Oct 99 regarding environmental threat to Lingambudi Lake in Mysore due to proposed alignment of the ORR.
Sir,
We are grateful to your Bank for giving us the opportunity to present the case for the re-alignment of the ORR, as a follow up to our letter dated 25 Sep 99 which was signed by over 30 informed and concerned citizens of Mysore.
We would like to stress certain points that we made during our presentation.
(a) The photographic slides that were projected by Mr. Ravi Kumar, and the efforts made by citizens from 1995 to date, to persuade MUDA to change the alignment for the ORR so as to skirt the Lake to its South, is a body of opinion which amounts to an EIA that rejects the present proposed alignment. This body of opinion was consistently neglected by MUDA over a period of years. The fact that its deliberate and continued neglect has brought us to complain to the Bank at this late stage does not in any manner alter the validity of the opinion.
(b) Any attempts to “mitigate” the ill effects of adhering to the present alignment are reactive means. It is not prudent to create a problem by violating basic tenets and then attempt to “mitigate” or solve the problem. Enlightened use of environmental knowledge can obviate the need for employment of exotic or expensive technologies.
(c) The protest made by citizens against the present alignment as far back as 1995 should have resulted either in MUDA acceding to the suggestion, or in conducting an EIA at that time. Neither was done. Official apathy or ignorance or neglect cannot be the basis for damaging the environment irretrievably. We are sure that ADB will not permit MUDA to cause serious damage to the Lake for reasons of financial or administrative embarrassment. However, an EIA was conducted a few months ago by an agency from Hyderabad; during the Meeting, it was agreed to provide us with a copy of the EIA.
(d) Mr. Ravi Kumar mentioned during the slide presentation, that there has already been some degradation of the Lake due to encroachments, inflow of sewage, and expanding city construction. This should not be interpreted to mean that total degradation of the precinct (death of the Lake) is a foregone conclusion. With the kind of concern that environmentally informed citizens are showing, the Lake will revive if it is given the chance. The ORR in its present alignment will result in heavy vehicles speeding past (actually through) the upstream precinct of the Lake, since the ORR is essentially a bye-pass for inter city traffic. This will be a very negative step for more than one reason.
(e) The ORR in its present alignment will deny a 45 metre wide swath of upstream land to citizens for recreation, and force them to cross the ORR to reach the Lake. This will pose obvious hazards to people due to heavy vehicles moving at speed. For obvious reasons there can be no area downstream (South) of the Lake for recreation.
We believe that the seriousness of the damage to the Lake precinct that will result from construction of the ORR according to the present alignment has been conveyed adequately by us, to all the officials and others present at the Meeting. We appreciate that an EIA may need to be conducted even at this stage, to satisfy official requirements. We recommend that two or three alternate alignments to the South of the Lake be examined for this purpose. We are not against the construction of the ORR, but we are certainly against environmental damage to Lingambudi Lake and its precincts as it is a part of Mysore’s environmental and cultural heritage. We are confident that the stance taken by us will be viewed not as one that is confrontational, but as one that pleads for good sense, is cooperative, and yet is firm in resolve.
Yours faithfully,
Copy to :
1. Mrs. Sudha Krishnan, IA&AS
Director (Finance), KUIDFC, (U.N. Ravi Kumar)
Bangalore – 560 052.
2. Mr. G.B.Hiremaniyavar, KAS
Commissioner, MUDA
Mysore – 570 005.
3. Dr. P.Boregowda, IAS (Maj Gen S.G.Vombatkere (Retd))
Commissioner, MCC
Mysore – 570 002.
4. Mr. Ajit Mani
Interventions (India) Pvt Ltd
Bangalore – 560 042. (H.R. Bapu Satyanarayana)