Hyderabad: Garbage dumping, burning rampant at Jalpally Lake

Jalpally: In the absence of deterrent measures against a sad state of affairs at Jalpally Lake under Maheshwaram constituency, dumping and burning of garbage besides widespread encroachments keep on moving unabashedly thereby polluting the water body and the ambient temperature only to distribute ecosystem.

While exponential level of encroachments already choked the Jalpally Lake – notified by Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) and tagged with (id no. 3602), the dumping of garbage with combustible material on the banks and burning it waywardly makes this water body completely vulnerable of extinction just like the Erra Cheruvu Lake, another notified lake with an (id no.3609) in the same municipality almost devoured by the land sharks.

As per the survey done by HMDA in December-2013, the water body spreads over a full tank area of 274.725 acres with a water spread area of 167.480 acres.

Almost 3 to 4 kilometres of the embankment area of the lake was filled with garbage where thick layers of smoke can be seen frothing out from the piled-up trash with combustible material like plastic and foam every few minutes. The whole lake embankment area was overpowered with filth while most of the surface of the water body was covered with water hyacinth. This unhygienic and unruly state of affairs has turned the lake area into an unpleasant ambience, rued every passer-by.

"In the absence of executive powers, the Irrigation Department especially in Jalpally municipality became a rudderless body as no one take it seriously and always plays it down. People especially the industries existing around the lake don't care to sacrosanct the water body as no one was made to pay for their unruly practices so far," bemoaned Syed Shoukat Ali, a community activist.

"We can only write and intimate concerned revenue and the municipal authorities if we notice any incursion or audacity at the lake area as we can't take deterrent measures against a void-ab-initio attempt by anyone given the fact that the department has no powers to maintain yardstick. We are aware of the situation and are consistently informing the concerned revenue and municipal authorities about the unruly practices at Lake area," informed an irrigation official on the condition of anonymity.