Land sharks devour Yerrakunta Lake as illegal buildings pop up

Hyderabad: The Yerrakunta lake in Balapur mandal is getting completely vanished as the land sharks are gobbling up acres of land and selling them as plots to the gullible. The construction activity has reached its pinnacle in recent years, resulting in the near-complete disappearance of the water body.

The HMDA-notified lake originally covers 20 acres of land. The water body over the years was swallowed by the fast-paced plotting and construction activity, leaving just the name of the locality as Yerrakunta (red lake). Locals have pointed out that several criminal cases against the illegal encroachment over the FTL of tank were registered in recent years. However the action has been partly initiated and a few demolitions were made. These knee-jerk actions by officials have failed to deter time and again.

Unauthorised construction over the FTL of the tank is still going on, while new encroachments by land grabbers are continuing at a rapid pace. “Some of the fraudulent transfers are taking place based on some fictitious and fraudulent documents by local land grabbers with an intention to grab the FTL of the tank,” says Hassan Bin Ahmed Shaker, a resident of Barkas.

Hassan has been making pleas from Irrigation to the Revenue department besides the Chief Secretary to the Government and later approached the court. Recently some of the properties were demolished by authorities following the court directions to the officials. The High Court also directed the authorities to present an action taken report in the upcoming hearing of the case related to the lake.

In 2022, the Assistant Executive Engineer of I & CAD (Irrigation & Command Area Development) department, Balapur directed the Tahsildar, Balapur Mandal to take action against the illegal construction in Survey No.159, 160, 161, 186 of Balapur village. “We have been urging the authorities to keep tight vigil and to take appropriate measures. Local land grabbers are making constructions in open violation by encroaching over the FTL,” said Hassan in his latest complaint to authorities.