Hyderabad: Seeking an intervention from chief minister A Revanth Reddy and Hyderabad Disaster Response, Assets Monitoring and Protection (HYDRAA) commissioner AV Ranganath towards the urgent need for protecting certain lakes in Rajendranagar and Bandlaguda areas, social activist Dr Lubna Sarwath wrote to them seeking HYDRA’s urgent intervention in clearing illegal and unauthorised structures in those lakes, causing inundation and flooding of several residential colonies.
In a video released by Dr Sarwath on Tuesday, August 20, she highlighted how Surram Cheruvu in Bandlaguda, Palle Cheruvu in Rajendranagar, and Yerrakunta of Shaheen Nagar were being encroached.
She said that even in the 2020 floods, Nabeel Colony, Habeeb Colony, Mohammed Nagar and other colonies lying between Yerrakunta, Surram Cheruvu and another lake got flooded due to Yerrakunta’s nala getting encroached.
She pointed out that there was a case filed by her on Surram Cheruvu in Lokayukta, and on Palle Cheruvu in the High Court.
She had alleged that there was plotting and construction in the full tank level (FTL) and buffer zone of Palle Cheruvu and that high-rise buildings were built inside the Surram Cheruvu with no permission.
Explaining how the flooding was taking place, she said that the water flowing from Balapur Cheruvu and Shukur Sagar lying upstream of Yerrakunta and Surram Cheruvu, flows through Umdasagar’s outflow channel, going through Dabeerpura and Reinbazaar before joining the Musi River.
Due to the encroachment of the Nala near Palle Cheruvu (which has almost vanished), and the FTL/buffer zone of all these lakes, she observes that the entire area has become prone to flooding.
Super-imposing the survey of India’s map extract on the Google Earth map, she explained how the encroachments have been increasing over the years, even as she has been filing cases in the courts of law since 2018 to protect these lakes.
“During the 2020 floods, the Gurram Cheruvu near Salala Barkas was filled, and to protect the encroachments, the then chief engineer broke the weir instead of operating the tank’s sluice. Near Millath Nagar in Rajendranagar, a lake went missing out of records,” she alleged.
She informed that due to the heavy downpour during the last couple of days, massive amounts of water were entering the area around Palle Cheruvu and Yerrakunta and that the locals were being threatened by the encroachers when questioned about the nala encroachment there.
“I would like to draw the urgent attention of the HYDRAA Commissioner through the chief minister who is the chairperson of HYDRAA, to revive this area because we are yet to face September and October when the chance of floods is more,” she cautioned.
She also said that she was receiving many calls about landfilling happening in Jalpally Cheruvu.
“With a due apology and condolences for the family of Vijay ( a 43-year-old daily wager) who lost his precious life due to rains, we have to quickly move to Hyderabad and ensure ‘the rain is a mercy and not terror,” she added.
