HYDERABAD: A division bench of the Hyderabad High Court on Thursday directed the authorities of Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) to take steps ensuring that no construction activity or dumping of waste was done by private builders, particularly the respondent Aparna construction and estates private limited, within the limits of full tank level (FTL) of Nallagandla Pedda Cheruvu (lake) situated at Sherlingampally mandal in Ranga Reddy district.
The bench of Acting Chief Justice Ramesh Ranganathan and Justice K Vijaya Lakshmi was passing this order in a PIL case by Janam Kosam, an NGO represented by its president K Bhaskar Reddy, complaining inaction of the authorities in protecting the above lake from encroachments.
Petitioner’s counsel N Harinath told the court that Aparna company had removed the boundary stones of the FTL and the tank bed had been filled up with construction debris and occupied the lake area of about 10 acres and built a high compound wall. Nallagandla lake covers about 89 acres and has been a perennial lake and also exists during the peak summer.
In the recent past, the lake has become a target for land sharks and has been considerably shrunk because of land grabbers, he added, and sought directions to the authorities to take immediate steps for removal of all the illegal constructions and encroachments to the lake.