An alarming rate of encroachment is being taking place on the catchment area of millennia-old Upper Lake, also known the lifeline of Bhopal. On the other hand, officials of BMC and district administration entrusted to preserve the lake don’t take action against such land Mafia and encroachers. For this reason, rapid construction work, farm houses, colonies and encroachment are being done in the areas around the lake. The area of Upper Lake is shrinking continuously. This issue was raised prominently from time to time and now the district administration has once again decided to conduct a survey of Upper Lake by Google mapping with the help of GPS.

Google mapping was done with GPS in the year 2016 for the survey of FTL investigation in Upper Lake. Then the team investigated up to Borwan, Baheta, Khanugaon, Bhopal-Indore Road and areas of Sant Hirdaram Nagar area. During this, numbers 1 to 16 were found missing inside a hospital. The team had identified 46 illegal encroachments in Khanugaon. Teams were also formed to remove it, but no strict action was taken.

The size of the Upper Lake in official records is 32 sq km. In the draft of the Master Plan 2031, it has been described as 34 sq km, whereas in the 2017 report of the DGPS survey conducted in 2016, it was described as 38.72 sq km. There is a ban on construction up to a distance of 50 meters from the FTL of the lake. There are many restrictions in the catchment of 361 sq km, but the distance of 50 meters is not fixed due to the non-fixation of the extent of the lake. Due to this, illegal construction and other activities are not being stopped in the land and catchment of the pond. Collector Ashish Singh said that in the last few years, construction works have been done around Upper Lake. It is very important to fix the boundaries of the lake only then it can be saved from being encroached. A discussion has been held with the Bhopal Municipal Commissioner in this regard. Soon Google mapping of Upper Lake will be done with the help of GPS. In future, use of drones would also be taken to keep tabs on illegal developments.