Hyderabad: Environment protection activists who have been fighting to protect city lakes for years said despite repeated orders to protect the water bodies, the authorities were allowing the condition of lakes and tanks in and around the city to deteriorate.
Speaking on the frothing of Saroornagar lake that started on Wednesday night, they said despite pleas to save the lake that began 25 years ago, there had been no official effort to protect the lake.
Saroornagar lake was the first water body that led to a legal battle which started in 1995. K.L. Vyas, a noted city-based environmentalist, had filed a case in the then AP High Court for the protection of the lake.
“At that time, there was no Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA), there was only Hyderabad Urban Development Authority (HUDA). When they were questioned by the court about the custodians of water bodies in the city, they responded saying it was not their concern. The courts had given them a strict warning, and told them that even water bodies were to be considered a part of the city,” B.V. Subba Rao, a noted environmentalist, told this newspaper.
“After 25 years, the condition of the lakes has degraded. How long can civil societies fight for the lakes,” he asked. Not just Subba Rao, even Vyas, the petitioner in the 1995 case, recalled that this lake originally measured 120 acres and was built in the year 1624. But owing to encroachments it shrank to 60 acres.
The upkeep of this historic lake is of paramount importance because it is one of the two lakes in the area which used to prevent the eastern side of the city from flooding. The other water body that performed this function is the Hasmathpet lake. “The run-off water could be regulated by these. But, since 2000, it has fallen prey to encroachments. Which means that the backwaters of the lake are not flowing into Musi river, but are coming back. Nagole which is very close to Musi is the first to fall victim to floods as a result of this condition,” Subba Rao said.
