Kempegowda tower battling for survival from garbage, toxic fumes

The replica of Kempegowda watchtower on the pillar at Hudson Circle in front of the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) headquarters might lead anyone into believing that the four of such structures built by the founder of Bangalore to define the city’s boundaries enjoy a special place in the civic body’s scheme of things.

That assumption could not be more wrong. The reality that these towers — whose pictures adorn tourist brochures and which are subjects of articles and discussions on Kempegowda’s legacy — continue to endure could leave anyone aghast. The Kempegowda tower near Kempambudhi lake, at Nanjamba Agrahara beside Gavipuram, is battling for survival.

Garbage, toxic fumes from a tyre recycling yard, encroachment and shrines coming up in the vicinity are just a few issues threatening the protected area.

Citizens have petitioned the chief minister to “do something” about the area that has become a “free-for-all garbage dumping place”, is full of “poisonous insects, scorpions”  and “wild growth that shelters anti-social elements” and “gives cover to illegal activities”. This was in 2009. Yet, no action has been taken, they complained.

It’s not just the well-being of the tower but also the health of locals that is at risk. “Tyre burning goes on unchecked. The smoke spreads everywhere, colouring everything black. Our water turns black. The carbon is everywhere,” said Kavitha Mallikarjuna, a local.

During summer it gets worse because the particles flying about in the air are uncontrollable. Even a small gust of wind makes breathing difficult, the residents complained. In the rains, there is another kind of difficulty - water that gets collected in the thousands of tyres in the yard become breeding places for mosquitoes.

The plight of the locals is just part of the story. While their pleas have fallen on deaf ears, pleas of heritage enthusiasts to honour BBMP’s promise to turn Gavipuram into a heritage zone have also gone unheeded. On April 18 last year, World Heritage Day, corporators and MLAs had made the announcement. Nothing has changed on the ground. In fact, a temple, whose construction was initiated by a former corporator within a few hundred metres of the gopura, has not been removed either.

The under-construction structure is falling apart, adding to the filth and ugliness surrounding this prized possession of the city.
Rampant encroachment of the Kempambudhi Lake which still has one of its original sluice gates goes on.

Parking lots are coming up around it. A shrine next to the steps and the beautiful rock formations is defacing the area around what is supposed to be a protected spot. Apathy of the civic authority is more than apparent.