By Deepika Prasad
Founder & Lawyer, Title & Terrain Legal Studio
I. Introduction
Bengaluru’s network of lakes and rajakaluves (stormwater drains) is not ornamental, it is the city’s natural defence against flooding, water scarcity and ecological collapse. Yet, in August 2025, the Karnataka Legislature passed the Karnataka Tank Conservation and Development Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2025, fundamentally altering buffer zone protections around lakes.
Coupled with the Government’s September 1, 2025 Draft Notification reducing buffer zones around stormwater drains, this marks one of the most significant rollbacks of urban environmental safeguards in recent memory.
II. The new buffer zone policy
Until now, the rule was simple 30 meters of buffer around every lake. The new Bill changes this to a tiered system, where the buffer depends on the size of the lake.
|
Sl. No. |
Area of the Tank/Lake |
Buffer from the revenue boundary of the lake in meters |
|
|
Tiny tanks below 5 Guntas |
Zero |
|
|
Mid-sized lakes (1–10 acres) |
6–12 meters |
|
|
Above 10 to 100 acres |
12-24 meters |
|
|
Biggest lakes above 100 acres |
30 meters |
The government calls this ‘scientific approach’. In practice, it creates a dangerous loophole by weakening protection for thousands of smaller tanks and lakes across Karnataka.
III. Storm Water Drain (SWD) Draft Notification – September 1, 2025
Just days later, the Government issued a draft notification on Stormwater Drain (SWD) buffers for Bengaluru Metropolitan Region. It reduces the protective space around drains to:
• 15 m for primary drains (previously 50 m)
• 10 m for secondary drains (previously 25–35 m)
• 5 m for tertiary drains (previously 15–25 m)
Though labelled ‘draft’, this proposal narrows the rajakaluves/nalas, the very arteries connecting lakes and carrying floodwaters and sets the stage for heightened flood risk.
IV. The Loopholes
Lake size = revenue record, not reality
Lakes expand in monsoon and shrink in summer. But the Bill does not look at natural spread. It looks only at what is recorded in revenue and survey documents. If a lake is wrongly recorded as 4 guntas on paper, it legally gets zero buffer even if it floods into acres during rains.
Public utilities = concrete in the buffer
The Bill says no private apartments or malls in the buffer. That’s good. But it allows public utilities such as roads, bridges, STPs, pumping stations. Let’s be clear: these are still constructions. A road or STP inside a buffer is enough to choke a stormwater channel. And once a road enters the buffer, private encroachments usually follow.
No real enforcement mechanism
The law says utilities must not obstruct inflows or outflows. But who checks this? Bengaluru’s history shows that once construction is sanctioned, verification is weak and action comes only after the city floods.
V. The risks for Bengaluru
Urban Flooding: The 2022 floods showed the price of narrowed drains. Shrinking lake and SWD buffers guarantees higher waterlogging and damage.
Water Quality Decline: Natural buffers filter pollutants and recharge groundwater. Concrete strips do neither, leading to dirtier lakes and aquifers.
Dangerous Precedent: Diluting buffers in statute normalises the idea that environmental safeguards are negotiable, not sacrosanct.
VI. Why this matters
Bengaluru’s lakes are not real estate parcels waiting to be unlocked. They are ecological assets that shield the city each monsoon. Reducing their buffers whether for private apartments or so-called ‘public’ STPs weakens that shield.
The government may argue it is balancing development with conservation. But the balance is tilted. This Bill is not about science, it is about freeing up land at the cost of public safety.
The SWD draft notification of September 1, 2025, which slashes drain buffers to 15 m, 10 m and 5 m, compounds the risk by narrowing the very channels that connect lakes. And as reported by the Indian Express (9th August 2025), the National Green Tribunal has already taken suo motu cognisance of the State’s move to reduce lake buffer zones and this is a clear indication of how legally and environmentally dangerous these changes are.
The question is simple: do we want more land today or a more liveable Bengaluru tomorrow? Because if these changes are notified, the city will pay the price, flooded homes, polluted lakes, poisoned groundwater and yet another avoidable crisis.