MCH stirs up calm of lake waters

HYDERABAD: Water bodies in Hyderabad are slowly disappearing leading to an imbalance in the ecosystem. To add to this disturbing trend, a lake in the heart of the city in Methodist Colony of Begumpet area is being filled up since Monday. This lake around 3.5-4 acres abuts the Necklace Road MMTS rail tracks and is part of a private property of around 24 acres.The property is owned by the family of one Dhananjay Nayak who lives in Pune and is presently being looked after by his friend A Sundar.
"Since Monday, this lake is being clandestinely filled up," complained Varsha Bhargavi Charles, a resident of an apartment block overlooking the lake.
Disturbed by the constant din of the trucks and dumping being done in the lake, Charles, has lodged a complaint with the police and Municipal Corporation of Hyderabad (MCH). The dumping started late on Monday night and continued till the wee hours of Tuesday morning. "I lodged a complaint with the police control room immediately as the dumping began. A while later, Punjagutta police station SI who inspected the site said MCH had ordered the filling up activity to tackle the mosquito menace," Varsha told TOI.
MCH officials, however, denied this allegation. "Filling a lake is not allowed and we would not do it. The land owner was filling it and misled us saying that it was a low-lying area which had stagnated water. On a visit to the place we realised that it was a lake and issued a notice to stop the dumping," said R Rama Mohan Rao, additional commissioner, MCH. "This is not true. In fact, the MCH sent a notice saying the lake needs to be filled up to counter the mosquito menace in the area. We were left with no option, but to open our gates and allow them to go ahead with the dumping," countered friend Sundar, on behalf of the Nayaks. While the activity came to a standstill on Tuesday night, it began again on late Wednesday night and continued upto 4 am on Thursday. "We have reissued a notice on Thursday and decided to prosecute them. Our men will keep a watch and seize the trucks if they are noticed doing this activity again," Rao said.
"The activity is a violation of the Revenue Act by which any change of land use requires permission. Filling the lake could lead to flooding in the area. It is the responsibility of the government to protect lakes, specially at a time when lakes are being notified and projects to restore them are being taken up," said environmentalist S Jeevananda Reddy. Filling up of the lake had been done earlier in July-August too, which had stopped and restarted earlier in the week. "Almost a fourth of the lake has been filled till now, since July," Varsha said.