Hyderabad: Some have disappeared. Many are in the process of doing so thanks to unbridled and rampant encroachments. And some, thanks to bureaucratic sleight of hand, have assumed new avatars.
Over the decades, the story of lakes, tanks, and reservoirs in and around Hyderabad city, has been one of exploitation with the powers-that-be under whose watch the water bodies were practically killed, paying lip service and doing little to nothing to save the once thriving water bodies.
The setting up of the HYDRAA by the Congress government and its demolition drive on lake beds, has put the spotlight on the destruction of the water bodies in and around the city.
The construction industry-led encroachment of the water bodies did not even spare Osmansagar and Himayatsagar, which are still the drinking water sources for Hyderabad. The coming up of many farmhouses around these two lakes in the last 10 years, several of them within whistling distance of the water bodies, is symptomatic of how no interest was shown by the previous government when it came to lake protection.
The terms of GO 111 — issued by the Congress government in 1996 to protect the catchment areas of the two reservoirs — were modified by the then BRS government in 2022 to lift restrictions on construction around the reservoirs and scrapped in May 2023. By then, a lot of damage had occurred around the two water bodies, and the BRS government also began calling Osmansagar and Himayatsagar as lakes, instead of what they were: Drinking water reservoirs.
“Osmansagar had a spread of 10,000 acres but siltation over the years reduced it to around 6,300 acres. The BRS government was always adamant that the lake spread was only 6,000 acres. Where did the 3,000 acres of the lake go? The Shankarpally road itself is an encroachment into the Osmansagar reservoir. The side opposite the reservoir began seeing dumping of debris and manufacturing of land just before the Assembly elections last year,” said Dr Lubna Sarwath, who has been fighting for protecting water bodies in and around the city.
Donthi Narasimha Reddy, expert in public policy and lake conservation, commended HYDRAA for its work but cautioned that what was required was complete removal of the encroachments.
“To start with, the government must demonstrate its willingness to reclaim water bodies by restoring one fully. This will mean ensuring water flow needs of the selected lake, complete removal of all encroachments including ‘manufactured land’ created by dumping debris into lake beds,” he said.
He suggested that HYDRAA prioritise its plan on its part of lake protection, which at present is limited to demolishing structures on lake beds. Narasimha Reddy also said public trust will increase if such illegal constructions by big builders and politicians are taken down. “Big builders must be made an example on the extent the government will go to protect lakes. But if the activity stops midway, then public trust will be gone and never again will any such action take place,” he said.
Another victim of blatant encroachment is Durgam Cheruvu in Jubilee Hills, which according to Sarwat, saw large structures come up on the south side of the water body once the BRS government built a walkway around the lake. “HYDRAA’s next axe,” she said, “should fall on Durgam Cheruvu encroachments.”
While encroachment of lake beds has been a perennial problem, equally perennial has been the blockage and encroachment of nalas, the channels that kept many water bodies alive. According to one count, as many as 426 water bodies in the HMDA limits are dry, indicating that their inlet channels no longer exist, effectively killing the water bodies.
Infograph
Well-known water bodies that have been encroached
Osmansagar Reservoir
Himayatsagar Reservoir
Hussainsagar
Durgam Cheruvu
Pedda Cheruvu (Ramantapur)
Kapra Cheruvu
Musi-Esa rivers confluence (Musi) and rest of Musi river bed
Destruction in last 10 years
182 lakes in GHMC limits fully encroached, 76 partially encroached
62 lakes between GHMC and ORR encroached
Total lakes as per HMDA in its limits – 2,857
Inside ORR – 455
Outside ORR – 2,402
153 never mentioned in Revenue records, no longer exist
100 mentioned in Revenue records, no longer exist
426 water bodies listed as dry, indicating complete encroachment of all their inlet channels
