Encroachment of water bodies: HC notice to top govt officials

Hyderabad: The division bench of the Telangana High Court, comprising Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice Anil Kumar Jukanti, on Thursday issued notices to the state government and government machinery in a suo motu petition taken up by the High Court on encroachment of lakes, ponds and nalas situated in and around Hyderabad.

Justice E.V. Venugopal of the Telangana High Court wrote a letter to the Chief Justice annexing the newspaper clipping cited thereby bringing the deteriorating condition of the ponds and water bodies in the Hyderabad due to rampant illegal constructions within the water bodies.

The report highlighted the serious threat posed to the water bodies in the city as land grabbers were taking up illegal constructions in the water bodies and constructing villas, among others thereby taking the water bodies to the brink of extinction which in turn harms human life as acute shortage of water results in depletion of ground water levels causing serious imbalance in the ecological system, leading to floods, inundation of cities, loss of human lives and properties.

On Thursday, the division heard the PIL and issued notices to the chief secretary, principal secretaries of the MA&UD, home, irrigation and command area development departments, apart from the commissioners of the GHMC and HMDA, district collectors of Hyderabad and Rangareddy district, directing them to respond to the notices within four weeks duly informing about the steps taken to thwart land grabbers from resorting to illegal constructions.