BMC saves a pretty penny beautifying city's heritage lake

11 December,2010 07:26 AM IST |   |  Rinkita Gurav

Civic body manages to revamp Bandra talao at Rs 48 lakh instead of the sanctioned Rs 60 lakh by employing thrifty cost-effective measures


Civic body manages to revamp Bandra talao at Rs 48 lakh instead of the sanctioned Rs 60 lakh by employing thrifty cost-effective measures

In an uncharacteristic minimalist stroke, the BMC has managed to revamp the Bandra Talao by using only 80 per cent of the funds allocated for the lake's beautification.

The civic body, which had in June this year undertaken to spruce up the Bandra Talao, accomplished the renovation within Rs 48 lakh as against the Rs 60 lakh sanctioned for the project to the local ward office.


A new strong fence all around Bandra Talao will prevent people from dumping garbage in the lake. The revamped lake

The BMC had earlier chalked out a beautification plan of Rs 30 crore to give the lake a facelift and make provisions for boating. But the funds were not enough.
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"A basic upgradation was required and that is exactly what our ward office has done," says Assistant Municipal Commissioner (AMC) Manik Kshirsagar.

He added that there is no need to pump in extra money in projects that can be accomplished for less.

The ward office focussed on simple, cost-effective and eco-friendly ways to clean the lake, which reportedly had a 2 m thick layer of silt deposited on its bed.

Urban developer and architect P K Das cleansed the water with minimal mounts, officials say, by using the fountains at the lake to aerate and desilt it, without having to empty the lake out.

The original plan was to dewater the lake and then desilt it but that would have meant wasting 2.5 million cubic litre of water.u00a0

"To make the project feasible we had to understand the problem.

So a geological agency, Fugro Geotech, carried out a survey and told us that simply aerating the water can clean the lake. That would provide the water oxygen and preserve the ecological system," said Das.

By employing the old fountains as aerators, BMC saved itself the outlay on three new fountains for the lake, each of which would have cost up to Rs 15 lakh.
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"So we repaired and cleaned the old ones which are now used," said a BMC official. "We will put more fountains in the lake," Das said.

A BMC official from H-West ward said, "The lake was giving off a stench because of the refuse people throw in it, such as food to feed fish and flowers to worship. So we encircled the lake with iron grills and wire mesh on all sides."

The lake has got a new strong fence through which people would not be able to dump dregs in it.

Earlier, the BMC had planed to deck the lake with coloured lights. But they scrapped the idea for 65 regular halogen lights on the circumference of the lake that saved them a pretty penny.

The official added, "The lights would come later on when the funds are available."

Said Das, "We will make the periphery interactive and also built a pavement." Three security guards have also been deployed.

AMC Kshirsagar said that plans to put benches around the lake, install a boat for maintaining the lake, and build a chowky for the guards were also underway.

Did you know
Bandra Talao, also known as Lotus Tank, is a Grade II heritage site.

Powai Lake
In 2006, during the beautification of Powai Lake, the costs incurred had exceeded by more than four times the sanctioned amount of Rs 10.07 crore to Rs 43 crore.

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