Lake stink chokes posh colonies

Hyderabad: Residents of posh colonies like Nectar Gardens, Kavuri Hills, Silent Valley Colony, Vasantha Gardens, Amar Cooperative Society and Marutinagar etc. are suffering from the stench emanating from the Durgam Cheruvu.

Adding to their woes are the swarming mosquitoes that do not allow them to keep their windows open despite having purchased villas and flats facing the water body at a higher cost.

The residents of numerous colonies located near the Durgam Cheruvu said the prestige tag attached with the posh colonies had been robbed by the stench. It was like living in a colony next to an open drain, they said.

“We hesitate to invite relatives to our place. Though all measures are taken to keep the windows closed and room fresheners are used, bad smell from the lake finds it way inside the houses.

Why should anyone spend so much money to buy a house and then live with the stink?” asked P. Seetha Devi, a resident of Lilly Block Apartments. She said her family was moving out of the place because the smell was unbearable.

Incidentally, sewer lines of multinational companies and a large number of colonies are also connected to Durgam Cheruvu.

“The GHMC and Water Board are aware of this problem. Year after year, the officials come, hold meetings with colony associations and promise that a drainage line will be laid to divert the sewer. 

No work has been taken up so far. We don’t know when Durgam Cheruvu will be cleaned,” said G. Venkat, a management consultant and vice-president of Nectar Gardens Owners’ Society.

Another resident Ranjana Agarwal said they couldn’t even go for walks in the evenings. “Often we have to stop the skating classes of our children and send back the trainer due to the mosquito problem. Children cannot play outside after 5 pm due to the foul smell and the mosquitoes,” she said.

Businessman G. Ragha-vendra said that it had been a complete U-turn for the lake, from a fresh water body to a stinking lake.

“Just 10 years back, there was a boating facility and the water was good. The colonies in Hitec City are posh, but the problems are just like the ones that exist in slums,” he said.

Though the government has sanctioned a Rs 70-crore project to stop sewage from entering Durgam Cheruvu, by divert the drainage water through a pipeline in the first phase and constructing a sewerage treatment plant in the second phase, works have not started.

And even if the works start within a week, as officials claimed, residents have to suffer for two years till the project is completed.

Next:  Sewage dumped into lake

Sewage dumped into lake

Hyderabad: Nearly 100 million litres of sewerage flows into the Durgam Cheruvu every day.

Sewage flows into the lake from all the 14 industrial areas called as IALAs that are under the control of APIIC, and residential areas of Madhapur, Ayyappa Society, Ravindernagar, Kavuri Hills, Hitec City Phase-II and parts of Guttala Begumpet that form the catchment area of the lake.

A majority of the localities in surrounding municipalities, including the residential and industrial belts, in the catchment area of Durgam Cheruvu do not have underground drainage network. Sewage connections from individual houses and industries have been let into the SW drains.

The Ring Sewer Main of 1,000-mm diameter will be laid up to a stretch of 2-km.

Though the HMDA had earlier constructed a Sewerage Treatment Plant, it is insufficient as it has a capacity to treat only 5 million litres sewage water, while nearly 100 MLD flows in to the lake every day.

The APIIC and GHMC have agreed to fund the project which also includes laying of 6.5 km long sewer main from the downstream of Durgam Cheruvu to up to Musi.

There is another water body Mallika Cheruvu downstream of Durgam Cheruvu and this 6.5 km long bypass sewer pipeline will save it from sewage pollution.