Mission to restore city lakes underway

Hyderabad: As part of the lakes restoration project under Mission Kakatiya Phase-IV, the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) started work on sewage diversion at Ibrahimbagh Lake, Neknampur on Tuesday.
Work is being carried out at all the lakes after checking the state of repairs on the tanks and ensuring there is no overlap of proposed repairs with other schemes.
“We have divided the restoration work into Part A and Part B. On Tuesday, we started sewerage diversion works, under Part A. This is being done at a cost of Rs 5.27 crores. Improvement of the bund, fencing the lake, developing a walking track and lighting will be done in Part B, for which Rs 12.39 crores have been sanctioned,” said GHMC superintendent engineer (lakes), Gangadhar Reddy.
Orders for restoration and comprehensive development of about 19 lakes including Neknampur Lake are being carried out at a cost of Rs 280 crore, Reddy said.
Members of Lake Restoration Committee, formed for scientific restoration and long-term sustainable development of the lake, said their main aim was to fence the lake, restore a buffer zone and improve storm water drainage.
“We have waited a long time for this project. Although tenders were called and works were finalised, it was delayed by elections. We followed up with the officials and we thank them for starting the work,” said Manoj Kumar, member of the Committee.