Hyderabad: The Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority’s plan to artificially create wastelands has been vetoed by environmentalists on the grounds that it will decrease the water spread of the Hussainsagar lake.
A senior official of HMDA said: “Concerns about the water spread being reduced can be put to rest. All we are doing is collecting sediment from around the lake and creating mound-like structures in the lake. Since we are clearing the sides of the lake of sediment, we will be increasing the water spread. Another crucial point is that the sediment is rich in nutrients so trees can be planted on these mounds. All the waste that we gather from the lake, apart from plastic, will be deposited on the mounds.”
Environmentalist B.V. Subba Rao was not impressed with this argument. “How can HMDA claim that it will not reduce the water spread? Any new body (in the lake) will reduce the area of water. According to the plan, the wasteland will be surrounded by water. Even if all the sediment is put at one place, it is taking away space from the water body.”
HMRDA’s plan is to create artificial wastelands in the lake with the sediment that is dredged up in the ongoing cleaning of the lake. The project is to be completed in four months.
“We have started drying the sediment so that it can be made into a mound. We hope to develop green land with the sediment and biodegradable waste,” says an HMDA official.
Authorities claim that the wasteland will be two acres in size, and will not affect the 12,000-acre spread of the lake if it can be kept clean in this way.
