HYDERABAD: As announced by state Congress president A. Revanth Reddy recently, the party constituted a seven-member committee to study the implications of the repeal of GO 111, which used to protect the environs of the Himayatsagar and the Osmansagar.
Introducing the team to the media, M. Kodanda Reddy, former chairman of the erstwhile Hyderabad Urban Development Authority (Huda), said, "We have taken four Congress leaders who hail from the affected area as members. Outside experts have been co-opted into the team for advice. We will seek the opinions of more environmentalists from the city and include them in the report."
When the government is scrapping an order which has been justified by two reports given by environmentalists and three expert committees which worked under the supervision of the Supreme Court, it needs to give valid reasons, the committee members said. If there is any public interest, that, too, has to be justified, they said.
The committee pointed out that the water that comes to the twin lakes is filtered naturally and flows to Hyderabad by gravity, without spending any money. The government should explain why it had disrupted the system.
Highlighting the inconsistencies in the approach towards the two lakes, the committee noted that in 2016 the government had said that it had constituted a committee to go into the matter and its report would be submitted to the National Green Tribunal and the High Court.
This never happened, the committee said.
Then, in 2022, the government passed GO 69 to repeal Para 3 of GO 111, the heart of the order which protected the catchment area of the two lakes. This stand was reversed in September 2022 and the government told the High Court that all prohibitions under GO 111 stood restored. Earlier this month, however, the government repealed GO111.
On the legality of the issue, the committee said, "The state government doesn't have the power to repeal GO 111 as it has been passed by delegated power from the MOEFCC (Union ministry of environment and forests and climate change). The intention of the state government is not bonafide but malafide."
Jasveen Jairath, a committee member, asked, "It should be probed who has bought lands in the area. What is being claimed as the voice of residents of 84 villages is the opinion of this real estate mafia with vested interests."
