HYDRAA and Stakeholders Brainstorm over Lake Rejuvenation

Hyderabad: HYDRAA commissioner A. V. Ranganath on Friday organised a brainstorming session involving various stakeholders with a focus on the fundamental points of identifying a lake, rules governing patta land, on how the full tank level (FTL) of a water body is to be determined.

Officials from Survey of India (SoI), irrigation department, pollution control board, environmentalists and subjects experts discussed the resources to be used for purposes like SoI maps and cadastral maps, complex problems related to lakes and their rejuvenation.

The participants emphasised that ‘shikam land’ includes both the lake’s land and its FTL.

Officials said that the lake’s maximum water level, where there is no tampering or reduction of the surplus levels or sluice levels or other structures of the lake will be considered as FTL.

They spoke about tampering of the natural contour level of the lake, and said that they must work on bringing it to its original level. They also discussed the resources used to determine the lake's FTL.

Ranganath said that old FTL maps, tank memoirs, Survey of India topology sheets, cadastral maps and satellite images would be used to determine the lake and its FTL and buffer zones.

According to the draft guidelines for fixation of FTLs for lakes and water bodies, if the lake or tank memoirs are available, the FTL should be fixed as per the available records and memoirs. If the memoirs are not available but the lake's weir is intact, then the top level of the weir will be considered as FTL. If there is no weir, and only the lake's sluice gate is intact, FTL must be measured from 0.6 metres below the top of the sluice.

For lakes where weirs or sluice gates don't exist but surplus water pipelines are in place, the level from which water starts to pour out shall be considered as FTL, and if the surplus water goes out of the tank onto the natural ground, then the natural ground's levels must be taken as FTL. And if none of the methods are possible to determine the FTL, Survey of India topology sheets, cadastral maps and satellite images can be used to determine the FTL, he clarified.

Environmentalist B. V. Subba Rao, speaking to Deccan Chronicle, said “The first and most important factor for lake rejuvenation is public support. No matter how much effort we put in, if we don’t have local support, it will be an exercise in futility. These apart, setting up proper inflow and outflow systems for the lake is crucial, as it helps rejuvenate the lake system.”

Ranganath said “It is extremely important for us to rejuvenate lakes. And in that process, we have to take some harsh measures. We went with some harsh tactics, yes, but at the end of the day, it is for the betterment of society.”