Final notification issued only for 226 lakes out of 3,532 lakes in HMDA limits by the Lake Protection Committee.
Hyderabad
September 3, 2021:
It has been 21 years since the "Lake Protection Committee" was formed by the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA). However, the HMDA could manage to issue official notifications for only 226 lakes out of the 3,532 lakes under its jurisdiction - meaning 3,306 lakes are yet to be notified.
In Hyderabad, the Lake Protection Committee issued final notifications for just 18 lakes, of the total 28 lakes the Committee recognizes in the city.
This shocking fact comes to light as the National Green Tribunal (Southern Zone) took up a case Suo Motu, based on a report on "Indiscriminate encroachment of tanks and ponds" in Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation limits and other municipalities, in the Telugu newspaper, Eenadu.
The Executive Engineer of the HMDA's Lake Protection Committee in his reply to the NGT provided details that there are 3,532 lakes under the HMDA limits, of which preliminary notification has been issued for 2,139 lakes. The final notification has been issued for 226 lakes.
Here's a break up of the lakes:
What is the responsibility of the Lake Protection Committee?
The letter puts forward the mandates of the Lake Protection Committee formed by the HMDA on April 6, 2010, in compliance with the orders issued by the High Court (in WP no. 9386/2007).
According to the letter the responsibilities of the Lake Protection Committee are:
- Listing all lakes in the HMDA area
- Demarcation of the Full Tank Level of the lakes (FTL is the maximum water-spread area of a lake that is based on historical records)
- Protection of FTL from encroachment
- Taking up wide publicity and awareness campaigns on the protection of the lakes
Why the delay?
The letter says that the delay is on account of the delay by Revenue department officials towards the Certification of cadastral maps of the lakes prepared by a private agency hired by the HMDA.Another reason is the delay in the officials of the Irrigation and Revenue departments coming to an understanding over the Full Tank Level area of the lakes.
What is the big deal here?
The official notification by HMDA demarcating the Full Tank Levels of lakes will serve as official documents pointing out the territory of all lakes, in which no construction will be allowed. They will play an essential role in preventing encroachments of lakes. They can also be used as reference points in litigations involving encroachments of lakes.Why must the lakes not be encroached?
Lakes in Hyderabad/HMDA limits are a network of water bodies. These interconnected water bodies play an essential role during heavy rains in preventing flooding of residential areas.As rains/heavy rains occur, the rainwater from residential areas, open spaces, roads, etc. runs off into the lakes and gets collected there. When these lakes overflow, the excess water flows through the channels between lakes - also known as stormwater drains or nallas - and reaches other lakes. This way, the excess water gets balanced.
Unfortunately, due to the encroachment of lakes, they do not have enough space to contain the excess rainwater. On top of this, the nallas are also encroached in the city at many places. As a result, there is not enough space for water from the lakes to flow to the interconnected lakes.
All of this leads to flooding!
The situation becomes worse with intense rains due to climate change. To get an idea about it, read Worse yet to come? Climate change to aggravate flooding in Hyderabad, and Climate change causing increase in rainfall in city.
Here's the letter by Executive Engineer of Lake Protection Committee that I refer in this article:
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