Jalpally Lake beset with official apathy

Rangareddy: Taking advantage of the fragile state of the Irrigation department, polluting industries as well as land sharks, especially in the Jalpally municipal area, continue to plunder water bodies wherever they find it easy to unleash their ulterior plans.

The biggest-ever water body in the municipality, Jalpally Lake, is a living example of a ravaged aqua resource that was brazenly encroached on almost all sides. Thanks to officials’ wilful apathy organised land-grabbing of water bodies flourished for years.

The landmark lake, from Laxmiguda in the Rajendranagar constituency in the West, shares boundaries with Bandlaguda (Chandrayangutta segment) and Jalpally village (Maheshwaram). However, its major part is Jalpally municipality. People from nearby polluting units have been found dumping inflammable stuff like foam and plastic on the banks of the lake and torching it to avoid being caught. As a result, the whole ambient environment of the nearby area gets filled with thick smoke leaving passengers moving close to the lake choking. Besides, some ‘land sharks’ are dumping construction debris every few metres within the Lake FLT area to make it dry only to claim it later.

Says Abdul Bari, working president of the Congress Party in the municipality, “Already much of the lake area was brazenly encroached over years as land sharks, in cohort with municipal officials, are operating with full impunity. From identifying the spot to preparation of fake documents, everything is being done surreptitiously to avoid clutches of the law.”

Apart from this, incidents like cattle deaths are being reported from the area after cows and buffalos graze near the lake generally eating up plastic found on the lakeside.

Affirming the same, Jahangir Khan of Pahadi Shareef says, “It is apparently clear that a fragile irrigation wing without executive powers can not stop land sharks from swallowing water bodies one after another in Jalpally.”

“All the irrigation officials do is to visit the spot only to report the incident to authorities, like municipality, revenue, and the police. However, the land sharks beat the rap taking advantage of a chunk in the legal system’s armour,” he blamed.