Activists seek CBI probe on Hussainsagar funds

Hyderabad: The city’s environmentalists are requesting a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) inquiry to discover what happened to the funds provided by foreign countries for the rejuvenation of the Hussainsagar, since the lake has not benefited in any way.

“Over the last decade, a lot of foreign funds have been pushed into the lake. Japan, Australia and the Netherlands have together given close to Rs 700 crore. The amount of money has not translated into any action,” said Prof Purushottam Reddy, a city-based environmentalist.

Environmentalist M. Vedakumar agrees that previous state governments have received money from other countries, “but the money is not translating into any action. There is no individual officer who can give us a statement of how and where the money has been spent.”

He said the Pollution Control Board should “come out with a report on the lake, whether it has improved or not. Only they can tell us what is happening,” he said.

Various agencies too have been involved in the conservation of the lake and have spent over Rs 1,000 crore since 2002. Some of the money was borrowed from external agencies. The latest dose of funding was in 2016, when Rs 280 crore was allegedly spent on restoring and managing the lake. It began in 1998 with the then Municipal Corporation of Hyderabad spending Rs 40 crore on the lake. This was followed by a Green Hyderabad Environment Programme undertaken by the then Hyderabad Urban Development Authority in 2002. Next, was the Musi River Action Plan in 2004, under which the National River Conservation Directorate spent Rs 344 crore. In 2006, HMDA took up a project to improve Hussainsagar and its catchment areas at a cost of Rs 370 crore.