Encroachments on historic Bum Rukn-ud-Daula lake razed

Hyderabad: The GHMC backed by newly formed HYDRAA (Hyderabad Disaster Response and Assets Monitoring and Protection) demolished alleged encroachment inside the FTL of Bum Rukn-ud-Daula lake in Shastripuram on Saturday.

The Bahadurpura MLA Mohd Mubeen was placed under house arrest, for attempting to prevent the ongoing operation.

In this drive conducted in the Kings Colony under Rajendranagar Assembly constituency, the teams of GHMC and HYDRAA with the help of Cyberabad police officials reached the spot in the morning. The cops cordoned off the entire area, while the GHMC teams along with heavy earthmoving equipment began demolishing several structures that were allegedly built in the FTL of the Bumrukn-ud-Daula lake.

The drive which was swiftly completed on Saturday, is said to have the direct authorisation of the first major operation by Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy who recently launched the HYDRAA. As the demolitions continued, the authorities took measures to ensure no locals create any kind of problem.

The lake is considered to be City’s heritage irrigation marvel and considered to be one of the oldest lakes built for drinking water purposes. In recent years, a case was filed in NGT Principal Bench, New Delhi in 2018 by City based green activists with an appeal to prevent ‘annihilation’ of the HMDA listed lake. In 2019, the Delhi bench ordered then Secretary MA&UD, Aravind Kumar that he would be personally responsible for the lake. It is alleged that after the 2019 survey, instead of restoration, the lake only saw more encroachments.

In February 2022, the NGT principal bench New Delhi transferred the case to NGT Chennai. A Committee of Central Pollution Control Board officials, Hydrology institute and MoEF officials surveyed the lake. The committee submitted its report about encroachments and pollution of the lake. On July 4, an order was issued that concerned authorities file their report. This was followed by a survey of the lake, which was conducted on July 24.