Hyderabad: Hyderabad Disaster Response and Asset Protection Agency (HYDRAA) Commissioner AV Ranganath reiterated that Bathukamma Kunta in Amberpet has historically been a minor irrigation tank which got encroached in the course of time.
On Saturday, May 2, Ranganath explained with historic records, maps, and satellite pictures, to claim that Bathukamma Kunta has always been, and is a lake.
His revelation came on a day when Telangana Rakshana Sena (TRS) founder Kalvakuntla Kavitha held a ‘meet the press’ programme at Basheerbagh Press Club, where she questioned what HYDRAA was going to do, after the Telangana High Court’s orders, directing the agency to remove all claims of ownership of Bathukamma Kunta by the state government.
“HYDRAA’s way is like first we will demolish and then we will see whatever happens next” Kavitha commented.
She failed to speak on what her stance was, about saving the urban lakes which had shrunk due to large-scale encroachments over the last few decades.
Ranganath, who addressed the media at his office at Buddha Bhavan, showed the irrigation records from 1975, in which the water body was named as ‘Kunta’ (pond). However, no ayacut was mentioned in that record, as with other ponds in the document.
He also showed the revenue and Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation’s (GHMC) records, where it was stated that the water body was spread across 9 acres and 19 guntas in survey number 563/1, and the tank’s bund was named as Masan Katta in survey number 563/2, which was spread in 6 guntas.
He also showed the Survey of India’s map fro 1971, and the satellite pictures of the US’ National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) Landsat taken in 1989.
He also presented a video of the super-imposed pictures from different timeframes over the past 5 decades. He also presented the tank memoirs, village maps, and other records to prove his point that Bathukamma Kunta is a public property, and not private.
He also showed the photos of the removal of HYDRAA’s boards, and other information at Bathukamma Kunta, as per the directions of the High Court.
He also said that the state government has conveyed to the Supreme Court in its appeal that if fencing was removed from Bathukamma Kunta, it would put the lives of the people in risk. he said the Supreme Court has directed HYDRAA to file an affidavit in three weeks.
It is pertinent to mention here, that a Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader from Amberpet named Edla Sudhakar Reddy, who has unsuccessfully contested the 2014 assembly election on a BRS ticket to become the MLA of Amberpet, has been staking claim of owning the Bathukamma Kunta land.
He went from the City Civil Court, to the Telangana High Court, challenging HYDRAA’s action against what he has been claiming, as his personal property.
Social and environmental activist Dr Lubna Sarwath has time and again claimed without taking sides, that any encroachment of lakes has to be removed, including the concrete structures being constructed in the name of lake restoration by HYDRAA, as it serves no intended purpose.
Even she unsuccessfully contested as an independent candidate from Hyderabad Lok Sabha segment in the 2019 general election. She is now a Congress member without any leadership position in the grand-old-party, but continues to question anyone and everyone, with documentary evidence, when it came to saving the urban lakes.
Ranganath said that even in the case of alleged illegal construction of Barrister Fathima Owaisi College in Salkam Cheruvu, the High Court has not found fault with HYDRAA, but has affirmed the information sought by HYDRAA on the alleged encroachment of the lake in its order on April 13.
Ranganath said that action would be taken with regard to Salkam Cheruvu as per the reports of the irrigation and revenue departments, as sought by the High Court.
Ranganath affirmed that though permissions could be given to cultivate crops inside the Full-Tank Level (FTL) of minor irrigation tanks when the water resides during the summers, there is no leverage for individuals to build anything inside the tanks, or to change the form of the tanks.
He cited instances where gated communities were built to prevent the people from accessing the lakes in Hyderabad.
He said 6 irrigation tanks were being restored as part of the first phase of lake restoration efforts of HYDRAA, out of which 3 lakes have been restored including Bathukammakunta. Under the second phase, he said 14 lakes were identified for restoration, and that the state government was planning to restore 4 lakes in addition to these.
He also said that the state government was planning to restore the lakes across Hyderabad by involving big corporates as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Lake activists have time and again been alleging and expressing concerns that such a restoration model has proven to be detrimental to the lakes restored in such a way, as there would be conflict of interests and collusion between the companies (mostly real estate firms) and the state government, to regularise encroachment of lakes in the process.
As of Saturday, HYDRAA has claimed to have reclaimed 2,093 acres of government lands which included encroachment of parks, nalas, roads, and lakes among other public utility lands in Hyderabad. HYDRAA has claimed that the collective value of these permanent assets stood at Rs 80,000 crore.
Follow on Twitter | Posted by Vivek Bhoomi | 
