By TCN News:
Hyderabad: The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) has admitted in its counter affidavit before the Chief Justice, High Court, Hyderabad on 5th September that 3.25 acres of the Full Tank Level of Malkam Cheruvu has been affected due to the construction projects of GHMC and Aparna constructions.
The Superintendent Engineer, Hyderabad Lakes & Water Bodies Management Circle, Hyderabad stated that 0.61 acres of land was affected due to the construction of immersion Pond; 0.05 acres due to ‘access control gate in front of the Ganesh immersion pond’ and, 2.59 acres due to the ‘Peripheral Ring bund constructed around the lake’.
The counsel for the Malkam Cheruvu (lake) Adv Anjana Reddy & Adv Sameer Ahmad, pointed out that as per GO (Government Order) 33 of 2013, no construction can be undertaken in water body or its buffer zone. But the GHMC and the housing projects are guilty of violating this order and encroaching the lake.
Environmentalist and General secretary and spokesperson of Socialist Party (India) Dr. Lubna Sarwath who has been following up the PIL filed since 2016 in the party’s press release has stated “ We expect the GHMC and Superintendent Engineer to dismantle the immersion ponds in Malkam cheruvu and all other lakes of Hyderabad and comply with the Central Pollution control Board guidelines that mandate ‘Immersion Points’ and not concretized ‘Immersion Ponds’. Immersion Ponds are illegal and against the set environmental guidelines.”
She further said that lakes are natural treasures that should be preserved and the shores of which must be open for the public to enjoy. Why should the government allow corporates to construct structures around and inside these lakes in the name of beautification and then ask the public to pay money to be able to see these lakes?