The expansion of the Mysuru-Bengaluru highway may cut down travel time between the two cities to 90 minutes but is set to come with an environmental cost as the road’s last leg is set to cross over a lake near Bidadi.
The village of Bhimenahalli or ‘Forest House’ (as it is known in Kannada) is a pit stop along the National Highway 275, about 15.5 kilometres southwest of Kengeri Satellite Town. Residents said that the village once stood at the edge of a thick forest. Today, only Bhimenahalli Lake, located on the other side of the highway, still dominates the landscape. Sources described the water quality of the government lake as “excellent”, pointing out that it even hosts a fish farm.
