Land sharks gobbled up over 170 lakes during BRS regime: Bhatti

Hyderabad: Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka declared that over 170 lakes were encroached upon during the BRS regime. Reiterating the State's commitment to resolving environmental concerns, he assured the government will be inviting Opposition leaders for discussions.

While holding a PowerPoint presentation during a media conference at the Secretariat, the Deputy CM, who holds the portfolio of planning, alleged that 20 parks completely vanished, besides the encroachment of 171 lakes. Explaining with the help of the satellite imagery compiled by the TS Remote Sensing Applications Centre (TRAC) on lakes within ORR (Outer Ring Road), Bhatti expressed concern as to how nature was harmed during the past decade.

Out of 920 tanks, when the State was formed in 2014, a total of 225 tanks were fully encroached, while 196 tanks were partially encroached and 499 had no encroachments. During the last 10 years, 20 tanks were fully encroached where there was no encroachment, 24 tanks got fully encroached, which were partly encroached, and 127 tanks encroachment extent has increased significantly.

Bhatti flayed the Opposition for creating misconceptions about HYDRAA and the clean-up of Musi Reservoir and also for levelling false allegations against the government. He alleged the Opposition was misleading the people, citing demolitions, but the State government, in a transparent way, was ensuring proper measures were in place to rehabilitate the affected. “The previous government, which promised to protect lakes located inside the ORR from encroachments and clean up the Musi River, failed miserably in taking corrective measures. Is it not a fact former CM K Chandrashekar Rao, K T Rama Rao, and Harish Rao talked big on protecting lakes and that stern measures would be taken to prevent encroachments when they were in power?” asked Bhatti.

Making it clear that the encroached lakes are the property of the people of Hyderabad, Bhatti emphasised that it was everyone’s responsibility to protect water bodies. “If we do not stop the scourge of encroachments at least now, these lakes will disappear," he cautioned.

Stating that the government is keen to attract investments to the global city of Hyderabad, Bhatti said that the State government is ready to take note of the suggestions for the rejuvenation of the Musi River. “Our doors are kept open for any constructive advice and suggestions. I shall personally write letters to all the Opposition leaders inviting them to share their suggestions,” he added.