Hyderabad: A tweet by the tourism department hailing Hussainsagar's 'heart-shape', citing a 2012 report by the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO), has been received with incredulity.
The department tweeted: "As declared by the United Nations World Tourism Organisation, #HussainSagar lake in Hyderabad is the world's largest heart-shaped lake and is called the "Heart of the World"… #WonderfulTelangana #Hyderabad #TelanganaTourism," [sic].
However, the UN body had actually stated this way back in 2012. This made the tourism department Tweet appear like the department was trying to sell old wine in a new bottle.
In addition, the tweet also left out out the following part of the UN body's report — “constant inflow of industrial effluents and the enormous dumping of domestic solid wastes into the lake Hussainsagar India have unfortunately left it highly polluted.”
Apart from this, as environmentalist and founder-member of SOUL (Save Our Urban Lakes) Dr Subba Rao points out, the original shape of the lake was different, and the current one was formed due to encroachments.
Responding to the tweet, Dr Rao said "The state government is blind, as it can't see the state of the lake. And it is deaf as it is not hearing comments about the lake's pollution. And it also does not have a sense of smell. The lake emits methane, which is detrimental to climate change."
Dr Rao said the focus should instead be on understanding and restoring the natural functions of inland freshwater bodies like Hussainsagar.
The irony was not lost on twitter users either. One stated, "…stop unnecessary comparisons and start doing works to improve the lake condition." Another netizen tweeted: "they reduce the lake to real heart shape by filling mud. World's dirtiest lake with all kinds of emissions." [sic]
