Grabbers eye Jalpally Tank

Hyderabad: With encroachments in full swing, the centuries-old Jalpally Tank is the latest water body in the sights of land grabbers. 

Some influential persons are dumping huge boulders and blocks of dismantled RCC slabs into the tank from the Wadi-e-Mustafa Colony side. A new graveyard has also come up in the FTL.

These are tactics long adopted by organised land grabber mafia, opines Lubna Sarwath, member, Save Our Urban Lakes.

A road has been laid in the tank to allow the trucks to easily reach the banks and dump construction debris and boulders so that it slowly fills up. 

The land grabbers laid the road in the FTL area and ensured big land parcels are encroached upon, Ms Sarwath said.

The Jalpally municipality had earlier revealed plans to convert the tank into Mini Tank Bund with all recreational facilities. Residents of Jalpally, Shaheennagar, Sadathnagar, Pahadisha-reef and Bandlaguda were to be benefited, if the plans were to be implemented.

The water body is centuries old and is interlinked with Umda Sagar and Palle Cheruvu. A few other smaller water bodies in the basin were encroached upon over a period of time.

According to heritage activists, the Jalpally tank was the source of drinking water to the city during the Qutb Shahi and Asaf Jahi rules. “The water was drawn through dedicated channels. The lake still is one of the remaining fresh water lakes in the city,” said Kareem Ansari, a heritage activist.

When contacted, Jalpally municipality Commissioner Mohd. Saber Ali denied any attempts to encroach upon the tank.

“The tank is to its full capacity and I did not come across any instance of encroachments,” he said. The revenue department officials were unavailable for their comments.