Bengaluru: In a bizarre discovery, a double-door refrigerator was fished out of Madiwala Lake during a de-weeding operation Friday evening. A Jaldost team, operating under the banner of National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL), stumbled upon the unexpected ‘catch’ while clearing overgrown water weeds.
The refrigerator wasn’t alone in its watery grave. Among the other items retrieved were heaps of plastic bags, milk packets, mugs, books, pens, and even steel vessels, turning the lake into what locals call a ‘miniature junkyard’.
While the Jaldost — the de-weeding machine — is adept at removing weeds and debris from water, NAL officials and residents pointed out that the responsibility of waste disposal lies with Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP). “Each scoop can lift objects as tall as 6-7ft and weighing up to 3-4 tonnes,” said T Karthikeyan, senior principal scientist at NAL. “So far, we’ve pulled over 20 tonnes of waste, the majority of which was hyacinth and garbage. This includes all sorts of waste from metal to plastic to a refrigerator. We’re now wondering what all we might get when we completely clear the lake.”
Elaborating on finding the refrigerator, Karthikeyan added, “While our operators were de-weeding a small part of the lake, as the Jaldost machine went inside and started to clean, it hit a hard rock-like structure. On slowly trying to lift it, the operator realised it was heavy. When he pulled it out, he realised there was a refrigerator with loads of weeds and silt inside it.”
Lack of clear plan
Once the de-weeding is done and waste lifted, the Jaldost operator dumps it near the lake and into trucks, and BBMP needs to discard it appropriately. “The extracted biomass can be put to good use — processed into paper, cardboard, handwoven products, or even biofuels. However, without a clear plan for handling the massive volumes of waste, the opportunity is being wasted,” Karthikeyan told TOI.
So far, BBMP has shown little urgency in clearing the growing piles of weeds and garbage collected at the lake’s edges. Locals, meanwhile, are left grappling with the aftermath of decades of neglect. “If refrigerators and steel vessels are emerging from the lake, one can only imagine what lies beneath,” said Nithin Shetty, a resident of BTM Layout and frequent visitor to Madiwala Lake.
Another resident, Naveen Reddy, said, “BBMP has been ignorant about this lake for quite a while. They should first monitor the lake and penalise everyone dumping waste in it. We might find a sofa set soon in this lake. BBMP should be penalised for this.”
When asked about waste segregation, Bangalore Solid Waste Management Ltd (BSWML) officials the garbage is being collected but they haven’t segregated it. “There is too much waste to be segregated,” an official said.
HOW JALDOST CAME ABOUT
The de-weeding work at Madiwala Lake is being carried out using Jaldost Mark 2, a machine developed by NAL as a spin-off from aerospace technology. Built with lightweight materials and controlled by hydraulic systems similar to those used in aircraft, it is designed to tackle heavy biomass loads. Sources explained the machine can operate in lakes with a depth of up to 30ft, thought a minimum of 2ft is needed for effective use.
The Jaldost project was initiated in 2020 after BBMP approached NAL with specifications for a de-weeding solution. Following extensive testing, the machine was launched in 2023 across various lakes. Its first official deployment was at Gottigere Lake, where it successfully cleared 35 acres of hyacinth in just a month. Impressed by the results, BBMP deployed the machine at Madiwala Lake last week.