Hyderabad: Hungry land sharks devour Yerra Cheruvu

Hyderabad: Despite spending crores of rupees on conducting surveys to establish boundaries of water bodies, the absence of implementing agencies and the lack of proper supervision are contributing to loss of taxpayers' money as lakes in the city and the outskirts are not only shrinking, but some are even disappearing due to brazen level of encroachments.

Though the Burhankhan Cheruvu and Jalpally Lake are struggling for survival amid encroachments, the Yerra Cheruvu, another water body in the same Jalpally municipality notified by the HMDA with an ID No 3609, has almost disappeared allegedly due to unprecedented level of encroachments.

According to a survey conducted in 2013 by Aarvee Associates, the Yerra Cheruvu at Yerra Kunta area under Balapur village was spread over 19.943 acres of area with water area of 14.069 acres. With a few remains of its presence amid the densely populated area of Yerra Kunta, this water body comes under Maheshwaram constituency represented by Minister for Education P Sabitha Indra Reddy.

However, except a tiny pool of murky water of surrounding colonies passing amid the weeds, nothing is quite visible on the ground as the lake area has significantly shrunken from almost all sides. Leave alone the water, not even the dry land is visible on the site where the water body once existed. This issue of non-existence came out open when the officials of Irrigation Department recently made a visit to enquire the matter that too after getting instruction from higher authorities. It is said that a complaint regarding encroachments over the water body has prompted the officials to visit the area.

"We made a visit to the Yerra Cheruvu recently as per the direction of higher authorities and found that encroachments have come up from almost all sides. We will prepare a report and place it before the higher authorities for further action," informed an official.

In his complaint to Chief Secretary, Government of Telangana, Hassan Bin Ahmed Shaker, a resident of Barkas, has mentioned that "Shikam land of Yerra Kunta Cheruvu is being grabbed brazenly and with full impunity by using machines and labourers despite the fact that the water body had already shrunk to a mere pool."

"Earlier, the water body could be seen by the naked eyes, but now it is not the case. It is grabbed almost from all the sides. The matter was brought to the notice of authorities. Collector Rangareddy, MLA Sabitha Indra Reddy and even Chief Secretary were also informed through written representations, but to no avail. Finally, I have approached the High Court requesting the removal of encroachments spread over the water body," informed Hassan Bin Ahmed Shaker.

When contacted Srinivas Reddy, the Mandal Revenue Officer of Balapur, he said, "We are pursuing the matter since 2019 and cleared two out of three cases. As some legal issues are still pending before the court, we also filed counters to clear the same. So far, two cases were disposed off, while one is pending. The Collector, Rangareddy also communicated to HMDA and Irrigation officials in this regard. All the four line departments Revenue, HMDA, Municipality and Irrigation are pursuing the cases and will surely clear the encroachments."