Sewerage pollutes Meedhikunta lake

Hyderabad: Sewerage water from apartments and colleges that have drained into Meedhikunta Lake is posing a health hazard to the residents of Matrusri Nagar at Miyapur.

The demand for preventing pollution of water bodies by sewage inflow has increased. But the civic body has been acting slowly despite numerous representations given to the officials concerned. MeedhiKunta Lake is the main lake for the societies, especially because there are bore wells in the area. Surrounding apartments dispose sewerage into the lake polluting it and also the ground water.

An activist and resident Vinay Vangala said: “It is the key lake for our area and there is an immediate need to protect it. The bore wells are being polluted by sewerage from surrounding colonies such as SMR Vinay Fountainhead, Sri Chaitanya College among others. We gave a representation in March, for beautification, to construct fencing and install CCTV camera but no progress was seen as yet. Due to this, we are facing mosquito menace and ground water is also getting polluted. At times, we are getting the polluted water”.

Chandanagar deputy commissioner T. Venkanna said: “A separate line has been sanctioned for the diversion of sewerage of Hafeezpet division and the activity is in progress. The process is on to ensure that the sewerage water doesn’t flow from Chandanagar division.”

The Meedhikunta Lake is about 15.5 acres wide. However, residents allege that the Full Tank Level (FTL) is being disturbed by surrounding builders and a fencing needs to be constructed immediately. “We have an area where all this drainage can be dumped as an alternative. If it is encroached, then we won’t have that place and the lake cannot be saved,” they said.

When the FTL issue was raised, the GHMC officials admitted there is certainly inter-departmental communication gap, especially with the irrigation team.
“In the limits that we have inspected, there are no enc-roachments and we are not giving permissions. There might be land disputes within FTL, but no constructions are happening. If we are made aware of any encroachments, action will be taken,” he said.