City lakes face extinction in Hyderabad

HYDERABAD: Several corporate and business houses have encroached upon lakes in Hyderabad, according to Saving Our Urban Lakes (SOUL), an NGO. More than 500 water bodies that are listed as lakes by the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) do not exist on the ground and some that exist do not appear on the list.SOUL claims that private agencies such as the Hyderabad Golf Association (HGA), N Convention Centre and companies like Wipro and Ramky are among the encroachers. “Wipro which was entrusted with the care of Medikunta Cheruvu near its Gachibowli campus, has constructed a pathway and a small shed by dumping mud in the lake in name of beautification and destroyed it,” said Jasveer Jairat, convener of SOUL.The HGA was allotted 110 acres in the Naya Qila area by GHMC. The area covers three lakes- Jamalikunta, Naya Qila Talab and Shatam Cheruvu. Jamalikunta has shrunk in such a way that it has limited water holding capacity.Excessive dumping of mud in the Shatam Ceruvu is leading to a similar fate, says Jairat. Similarly, Ramky encroached upon Yellamma Cheruvu in Kukatpally by constructing sheds for labourers on the bund by dumping mud. “After a High Court order, it demolished a few constructions whereas some still remain,” he said.The Thammidikunta Lake opposite Hi-Tec City is being encroached upon by the N Convention Centre, owned by cine actor Nagarjuna and the Kamuni Cheruvu near the airport is being infringed upon by Satyanarayana Jewellers.D Ramanand Patnaik, general manager, sales and marketing of Ramky Estates said, “We are converting Yellamma Cheruvu into a park to maintain its authenticity. We built sheds for construction workers on the bund. Due to some political conspiracy, there are allegations of encroachments against us and the sheds were demolished. Our labourers did not have a place to stay so we constructed sheds for them in another locality.” H y d e r a b a d G o l f Association joint secretary Dayakar Reddy said, “There have been many allegations by vested interests against us.We all have awareness of our environment. We have taken up revival of Jamalikunta which was full of sewage, built a one-million litre sewage treatment plant in it and pumping back the recycled water into the lake.” Sunil Gupta, convener of the GHMC’s Lake Protection Committee said, “Our primary step to protect lakes has been to fence lakes to prevent dumping. In Durgam Cheruvu, fencing on one side has reduced dumping to a great extent.” “We will initiate action against any encroacher, be it corporate houses or private agencies. We write to the collector regarding any such issue who then decides what has to be done,” he added.MC Tiwari, chairman, Lake Protection Committee, however, refused to comment.SOUL has put in a few demands to the civic body including clarity over roles and functions of Lake Protection Committee members, Hyderabad Municipal Development Authority posting Home Guards at important lakes and post information on water bodies on a common website.