Hyderabad: Activists cry foul over lake encroachment

Hyderabad: The green activists who conducted a field survey of Palle Cheruvu in Bandlaguda in Rajendranagar on Monday raised alarm over the construction activity and laying of road inside the buffer zone of historic lake.

Blaming government agencies like HMDA, they slammed that the authority meant for protecting the lakes in and around the city had failed to update the information about the lake in public domain. "There is no information such as FTL (Full Tank Level) and Cadastral maps available online about the Palle Cheruvu in public domain. Hence activities like plotting (inside heavy blue sheet enclosures), road construction and closing of channels are going on at rapid pace," criticised the SOUL (Save Our Urban Lakes) activists.

In their representation to the Chief Justice of High Court, Dr Jasveen Jairath, the founding convenor of SOUL, and Dr Lubna Sarwath, former convenor and general secretary (TS) of Socialist Party (India) requested him to halt encroachment. Mentioning the history of lake with help of documents and maps, they held that if the matter was not taken up, the denizens who would settle down there would not only face flooding in future, but this act would affect replenishing of groundwater aquifers which help in meeting water needs of city.

"Even though HMDA had identified the Palle Cheruvu in its list of lakes in 2014, it has not published information pertaining to the lake in public domain and failed to notify till date. In spite of multiple agencies and multi-layered governance on water bodies, this lake is left to be devoured and desecrated through omissions and commissions of duty-bound officials and by constitutionally bound elected public representatives," they pointed out, while referring to HMDA's website.

According to the activists, this lake is in the record of Survey of India Hyderabad Guide Map of 2002 as well as Survey of India toposheets. "So many other smaller lakes around the Palle Cheruvu are also now missing," they argued.

They requested the Chief Justice to take up the matter and ensure that the all the Lakes in and around the City are protected and officials should be held responsible for their 'omissions and commissions.'