Hyderabad: Nala drains excess water from Fox Sagar Lake

Hyderabad: Following recent torrential rains, various lakes in the city overflowed, inundating surrounding colonies. At Fox Sagar, officials swung into action and to release water from the brimming lake, a kacha nala was dug. At present the condition of the lake is under control.

It may be recalled that the sluice gate of Fox Sagar Lake was successfully opened by a local automobile mechanic, Mohammad Khadeer, after engineers and officials in charge were unable to unlock the vents for over a week. The gate was last opened almost two decades ago, after which it remained jammed with debris, rocks and plastic. A big rock was stuck exactly where the wheels of the sluice gate were supposed to rotate. After the technical staff failed to remove the rock, Khadeer stepped in on the request of local councillor Ravi.

Khadeer said he realised that it was not an engineering issue, rather, debris from the lake had got stuck at multiple levels of the four sluice gates. "I and a couple of boys from my shop, tried to understand which part of the gate could or could not be worked around, since it is a very old structure. It took us over four hours to cut through layers of tarpaulin, fabric, debris, plastic, loose rocks and boulders," he added.

Kukatpally Zonal Commissioner Mamatha said surplus water from Fox Sager had been diverted through kacha nala. The water level in the lake has come down by 1 foot and at present commuters are able to travel by the lake. Surrounding areas including Subash Nagar, Uma Maheshwari Colony- Kompally, and Jeedimetla would have been affected if the water had not been released," she added.