Times
of India: Hyderabad: Thursday, 02 July 2015.
If you think
lakes in the city would be full to the brim this mon soon after the desiltation
work carried out under Mission Kakatiya, think again - especially in the case
of water bodies under the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA)
limits.
Take for
instance, the fate of the 17acre Shetti Kunta Lake in Ameenpur gram panchayat
(survey no. 947) in Patancheru mandal of Medak district. Instead of a scenic
water body, what we have is a concrete jungle. The lake bed has almost
completely disappeared, thanks to the housing layout permission for 182 plots
given by the panchayat authorities in violation of all norms.
The information
was unearthed by an NGO, Human Rights & Consumer Protection Cell (HRCPC)
under the Right to Information (RTI) Act. To their query, the panchayat
secretary admitted in his reply dated June 24 (a copy of which is with TOI)
that they had issued permission to take up construction activity on the lake
bed.
"What is
the use of the HMDA's Lake Protection Committee (LPC) identifying 2,857 lakes,
including 176 under the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) limits
for conservation, when inordinate delay in demarcation of Full Tank Levels
(FTLs) is leading to illegal construction and encroachment on lake beds?"
questioned HRCPC president Thakur Rajkumar Singh.
Singh alleged
that construction activity is in full swing on the Shetti Kunta lake bed, with
not a single official from the revenue or irrigation departments or HMDA
bothering to pre vent the encroachments.
In fact, HMDA
officials admitted that they could not complete FTL demarcation of all lakes
despite it being more than our years since the high court forced the government
to constitute an LPC n a judgment in October 2010. "We could complete FTL
demarcation of only 438 lakes (out of 2,857 lakes under HMDA limits). The delay
is on the part of irrigation authorities as they are holding up the approval
process. A list of 1,305 lakes with FTL markings has been pending approval in
the irrigation department offices in Hyderabad, Ranga Reddy, Medak, Nalgonda
and Mahbubnagar for the last one year," said a senior HMDA official.
The official
alleged that HMDA has forwarded a list of 25 lakes to the irrigation department
in Medak for approving their FTL demarcation, but is yet to hear from them even
after one year. Not surprisingly, the FTL approval for Shetti Kunta Lake too
figures in this list. "We cannot upload the FTL details on the HMDA site
unless the irrigation authorities clear them," the official said.
Meanwhile,
when contacted, Som Narayana, the panchayat executive officer of Ameenpur, told
TOI that they have issued layout permission for 182 plots in only 13 acres with
a rider included in the House Conversion Permission that in case it is found
that it violates any government order, the permission would stand cancelled.
"We know
that there was a lake, but it was nowhere mentioned in any government record
that it was lake bed (Shikam land). Hence, we gave away the permission,"
Som Narayana said, adding that construction of 60-70 houses is currently
underway while in the case of another 100 plots, the foundations are being
laid.