Telangana High Court Sets Up Expert Committee to Probe Durgam Cheruvu Water Crisis

Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court on Friday constituted an expert committee to study the condition of water in the Durgam Cheruvu and submit a report along with a note on measures which are required to be taken to protect and preserve the lake. This follows a massive fish kill at the lake recently.

A division bench comprising Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice Anil Kumar Jukanti gave the order while adjudicating a suo motu PIL taken up by converting the news reports which had highlighted the death of fish.

The court on a previous occasion had appointed senior counsel Vedula Srinivas as amicus curiae to ascertain the causes of pollution in the water and measures to restore and preserve Durgam Cheruvu.

Amicus on Friday submitted that he had communicated with Dr Atul Narayan Vaidya, director, National Environmental Engineering Research Institute, Nagpur, who has expressed his willingness to conduct the study of Durgam Cheruvu to uncover the presence of compounds including pharmaceuticals, herbicides, fungicides, pesticides, hormones, steroids, UV filters, plasticisers, cyanotoxins and metabolites in the water, and submit a report.

The committee constituted by the High Court will be headed by Dr Vaidya, and will comprise the principal secretary, irrigation, and secretary of the High Court Legal Service Authority. The court asked the committee to submit its report within six weeks and adjourned the PIL to February 6.