HYDERABAD: Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) commissioner D. S. Lokesh Kumar on Monday ordered an inquiry into the alleged illegal construction of an apartment building in the buffer zone of Meedikunta lake at Hafeezpet in Serilingampally.
Based on a report appeared in these columns on June 14, Lokesh Kumar wrote a letter to Ranga Reddy district collector D. Amoy Kumar on July 11, requesting him to verify whether the site of Prem Constructions in Plot Numbers 763, 763/1, 763/2, 763/3,763/4, 763/5 and 763/6 in Survey No. 54 in of Hafeezpet village was affecting the full tank level (FTL) or the buffer zone of Meedikunta Cheruvu.
The commissioner also referred to earlier letters to the district collector, executive engineer, north tanks division, Secunderabad, and also the representations of complainants Thakur Rajkumar Singh and G. Mallesh and Matrusri Society Colony members for taking cognizance of the matter. It was reported in this newspaper that the corporation granted permission to construct an apartment within the buffer zone of a lake on an application showing a survey number that does not exist either in Dharani portal or Pahani records. On the Dharani portal, the land in the buffer zone of the Meedikunta lake, mentioned as Survey No. 54 in Hafeezpet, was found missing. It showed the numbers as 54/1, 54/2/2 and 54/3. The Pahanis obtained through Right To Information Act (RTI) with records from 1985-86 to 2002-2003 do not show any mention of Survey No. 54.
Thakur Raj Kumar Singh, a resident of BHEL, and green activist who took up the campaign hoped that the inquiry would be fair enough, so that lakes and water bodies remained protected. He had earlier registered complaints with various departments, before it was published in Deccan Chronicle.
