The only lake on the eastern periphery of Greater Hyderabad that had retained its pristine nature till recently is on the verge of becoming another encroached, diminished cesspool thanks to the apathy and connivance of the municipal and irrigation officials.
The Fathullaguda lake with an expansive spread of water enclosed by rich vegetation has a picturesque presence even now, if one can ignore the side of the urban sprawl that keeps closing in on the Full Tank Level (FTL). It is one of the precious few lakes which have been notified by the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority and cordoned off with a chain link fence to ward off encroachments. Now, the chain link exists in bits and pieces, exposing the lake area to land mafia.
A temple under construction can be seen encroaching part of the lake’s buffer area after removal of fence. Heaps of excavated earth, along with discarded pipelines and construction material is dumped into the lake area, and a few buildings have been freshly constructed after levelling the earth. What’s more, the encroachments have reportedly got building permissions too from the Pedda Amberpet Municipality, thanks to the connivance by the Irrigation Department officials who cleared the application.
Further, the department has laid a huge pipeline beside the diminutive sluice of the lake, in order to empty it before it fills up completely, which they claimed was done upon instructions from Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation.
“The fencing was first broken by the contractor who had been awarded the work to lay box drain for stormwater discharge into the lake. Later, the fencing gradually disappeared on this side, and people have started to fill earth in the FTL and began construction of houses,” shared Katapaka Ravi, resident of Fathullaguda village.
Interestingly, stormwater pipelines laid in 2018 in Ketana Avenue and Raghavendra Colony with an expenditure of over ₹ 30 lakh were removed post the 2020 floods, and box drain was constructed with an expenditure of ₹4 crore.
The lake is mentioned in HMDA records simply as a ‘Kunta’ or water body, in Tattiannaram village of Abdullapurmet mandal, Ranga Reddy district. The 16-acre lake was surveyed in 2014, preliminary notification was issued in 2015 and final notification in 2016, when the FTL stones were planted and the lake was fenced by Irrigation Department officials. Part of the lake was encroached even before it was fenced off.
“Thanks to the lake, we do not have dearth of groundwater. We even made sure that sewage did not enter the lake,” said Mr. Ravi.
Sewage now enters the lake, as the sewerage pipeline was broken during construction of the box drain.
Complaints about encroachments to the municipal officials have not yielded any action, as the area falls on the border of GHMC and Pedda Amberpet municipality.
Divisional Engineer, Irrigation, Pavan Kumar claimed that a police case has been filed against the encroachers, and a letter is addressed to the Pedda Amberpet Municipality asking them to cancel the permissions.
However, it remains a mystery how the Irrigation Department cleared the building applications in the first place, knowing fully well that the structures were coming within the FTL, and how no action has been taken against anybody for this violation.
