Land-grabbing at other tanks in full swing

Hyderabad: Land-grabbers are now eyeing Gurram Cheruvu and other tanks in Balapur and Bandlaguda mandal on the city outskirts to mint money by later selling the land after filling it.

Loads of debris, including big boulders and loads of construction waste, are being dumped into the Gurram Cheruvu tank in the dead of the night to avoid intervention by municipal, police or revenue authorities.

A big portion of the tank is being encroached upon from the Royal Colony side and a few houses have already come up on the land. While, from the Barkas side too, a vast portion of the tank has been occupied and efforts are being made to sell off the encroached portion.

According to the local people, a few notorious musclemen of the area are actively involved in the grabbing of the tank for the last few months. 

“Despite the intervention of the local revenue authorities and the irrigation department, the activity continues unhindered. We suspect the integrity of the local officials who are responsible for protection the water body,” complained Saalam Hamdi, a local social activist.

A few kilometers from here, the land mafia, despite it being the rainy season, is busy filling the Jalpally tank at various spots around the fresh water body. 

The task to claim the water body land began from the Wadi-e-Mustafa side last year and continues unhindered. A few local leaders affiliated to a political party are involved in the illegal exercise, local sources point out.

The activity is also in full swing at the Suraram Cheruvu tank located in Bandlaguda, which is also being encroached. Workers have started dumping construction waste into the lake.

Ms. Lubna Sarwath of SOUL says that already several tanks including the Jalpally, Palleh Cheruvu and others in the south, have been encroached by land mafia. “Despite complaints, the authorities do very little to protect them,” she points out.