Houses mushroom on Secret Lake

This was revealed in reports submitted by the state revenue department and Huda to the Legislature Estimates Committee on lake encroachment. Eight colonies have been built on the FTL including Nector Garden and Oruganti Narasimha (both Huda approved), Brindavan Colony and Kalyannagar.

Huda had approved five layouts adjacent to Durgam Cheruvu towards the northern side prior to 2000 as per the sanctioned master plan. In 1992, one V.K Singh sold 13 acre of land to Amar Co-Op Housing Society, which approached Huda for layout sanction.

Once the layout was approved, the buyers approached the erstwhile MCH for building permission, following which construction started from 1998.

In 2000, heavy rains battered Hyderabad and almost 50 per cent of low-lying areas were submerged and Durgam Cheruvu waters entered many colonies.

In 2003, the irrigation department constituted a lakes division and in 2004, this division started erecting FTL poles based on the 2000 floods.

The officials enquired locally where the lake water had entered and fixed the poles. In 2013, Huda canceled all approved layouts and land use was changed from residential to recreation zone. The Huda-approved societies approached the High Court, which ordered it to “not interfere with constructions”.

Amar Co-Op Housing Society president M. Padmanabha Reddy said that in 2009, the state revenue department issued notices to most of the colonies built on Huda layouts, stating that the land was surplus and ordered the societies to pay as per the market rate to regularise the structures. Amar Co-Op Society paid the amount and received the regularisation orders, he said.

He said, “We welcome that lakes should not be encroached, but in many cases there is confusion between encroachment and shikam land. In the case of Durgam Cheruvu, the areas of the tank of 65 acre, which is intact. The problem lies in the shikam land; encroachers should be evicted but people who have constructed in the foreshore area, with all permissions, should be dealt on a different level.”

Out of the eight colonies falling under the FTL, only five have approvals from Huda — Amar Co-Op Housing Society, Kavuri Hills, the colony adjacent to lake STP, Oruganti Narsimha and Nector Garden. Kalyannagar, Brindavan Colony and the colony adjacent to Gafoornagar have no approvals.