File compliance report on protecting Chitkul Lake from pollution, HC tells govt

Hyderabad : Additional Advocate-General Imran Khan assured the Telangana High Court’s division bench, comprising CJ Alok and Justice Jukanti Anil Kumar, on Thursday that the Fisheries department is taking concrete steps for the protection of the Chitkul Lake in Patancheru from further pollution.

He informed the court that the 10 tonnes of fish which were found floating dead in the lake tank on June 28 this year was not because of emanation of industrial effluents into the lake, but due to heavy rain water entering the Peddacheruvu of Chitkul village resulting in depletion of oxygen and increase of ammonia which resulted in the death of fish. Due to heavy rain, the Tilapia variety of fish, which is commercially viable, also succumbed.

Reading the content of the counter-affidavit of the department, Khan told the court that it is doing best job in protecting the lake; it has even carved out a concrete plan for protection-- weeds will be removed; sufficient sewage treatment plants (STPs) will be constructed within four months. The sewage which emanates from various places and released into the lake will be stopped immediately, thereby protecting it from pollution; fish will be harvested periodically. The bench was adjudicating the Suo Motu PIL by converting the news item published in an English daily. The report said fish died due to discharge of industrial effluents into the lake. For further hearing, the case was adjourned to October 2024.