Bengaluru,  Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai has announced that he would order a comprehensive probe into the issue of lakes being levelled and encroached in Bengaluru.

The mistakes committed before in the name of development should not be repeated.

For this, it is necessary to probe when and why this land was utilized; which political forces ensured encroachment of lakes; which officers executed the task; who accumulated wealth in the name of others; after 2007 who amassed wealth, Bommai stated.

In 2018, there was a circular released by the revenue department. There was an attempt to remove the names of lakes which have dried up. It was later withdrawn following public outrage, Bommai stated. No influential person would be spared, he added.

Senior Congress MLA K J George asked to show which lake had been encroached upon during his tenure and punish him if he was found guilty.

Bommai asked him not to take the issue personally. "Lakes being levelled is a fact," he stressed. George stated his partymen have given wrong information to him and used words which led to arguments in the Assembly.

Meanwhile, the encroachment removal exercise was taken up by the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) after a two-day gap. The officers who came to remove the encroachments of a compound wall built by the Wipro, Salarpuria companies had to return without clearing them after receiving a phone call, sources said.

Minister for Revenue R Ashok stated that 42 lakes have disappeared in Bengaluru so far. The lakes have been levelled without cabinet approval and maps are distorted. This is the reason for flooding in Bengaluru, he underlined.