Hyderabad: Expressing deep displeasure at the plight of lakes in the twin cities, the Hyderabad High Court said on Thursday that its endeavour was for the restoration of the glory of the lakes, not their beautification.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice Thottathil B. Radhakrishnan and Justice S.V. Bhatt while dealing with separate PILs with regard to protection of lakes, said that if the current situation continued, the lakes would become history.
While asking the authorities not to worsen the situation, the bench said that if the situation continued, “We can only tell our future generations that earlier Hyderabad was famous as the city of lakes.” Maintaining that the failure of the departments concerned was responsible for the current situation, the bench said that it was the responsibility of the government to drive all departments for the protection and restoration of the glory of lakes in the twin cities.
While refusing to grant time to the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority to file an affidavit with the action plan, the bench asked counsel for HMDA to inform the court about the number of multi-storey buildings that had came up in the lakes.
The bench told the HMDA to take up the work in a phased manner and identify 10 lakes in the first phase and work in coordination with the Pollution Control Board.
While directing the HMDA to file the action plan for restoring lakes, the bench posted the case to October 4.
