i read a weird news today on LDA (lake development authority) plans in blore with respect to hebbal lake.

the idea of the government seems to be 'well, we dont have the capability/interest/enthu for maintaining this crucial lake, so let us outsource it'.

this outsourcing model should be, 'involve environmentalists for expert opinon, lets improve the lake health, maintain access to traditional users of the lake (fishermen for instance), charge public a fee so that they can pay for the maintenance lake' kind of thing.

but the model has been twisted and 'okay let us build a fancy hotel bang in front of the lake, cut off traditional users of the lake, drain the lake where ever possible to put construction, make the rich who can afford to pay, pay the money and enjoy, environment, average people, traditional users be damned.

for instance a restaurant in middle of the lake and other things pointed in the article is a crazy idea.
The Hebbal lake has been drained bone dry, but in a few months you could be sipping a cup of coffee with a few hundred other tourists in Lake View, a restaurant that floats at the centre of the 150-acre water body.

restaurant and fancy things in the lake bed is shocking to say the least. it will be numbing if blore expands this and other cities catches onto it dealing a death blow to already dying lake/water bodies in urban areas.

several crazy things are happening in india in name of development and hebbal lake is the first example of craziness wherein government is abdicating its responsibility and falling at the feet of private sector and throwing away public interest.

this is not ppp-public private participation. this is private profits at public cost.
(above: notice in hebbal. private profits at public interset. below: crucial hebbal lake, sacrfice in name of development?)