HYDERABAD: Even as concerns around abolition of G.O 111 fester, activists point out that leave alone protecting the 10 km radius around Himayatsagar and Osmansagar, areas within the reservoirs have been encroached. In fact, several of the encroached sites which bore the brunt of floods in 2020 when the reservoirs filled up were visited by government officials along with a city-based activist.
“In December, 2020, after repeated complaints of encroachment in the Osmansagar reservoir’s Full Tank Limit (FTL), myself and a team of the general manager of HMWSSB and other officers had visited a sports resort. As per HMWS&SB maps, this itself is an encroachment,” said Dr Lubna Sarwath, an activist from the city.
She had raised the issue of this encroachment in letters to several government officials as well, including the Chief Justice of Telangana with photographs and documents attached.“The sports resort in fact was also impacted during the October, 2020 floods with its compound wall breaking in the force of the flood waters. Over the years, heavy rains are leading to the lake reclaiming its space,” adds Sarwath.
An estimated 100 encroachments are present on the FTL limits of both reservoirs with no action taken.
“During our field visit, we saw several compound walls and fences put up by the water board within the FTL itself to block the flow of water, in a way giving sanctity to the encroachments,” she added.
Previously, city-based activist Rajkumar Singh Thakur, had in 2016 submitted a list of 12,500 encroachments in areas protected by G.O 111 to the National Green Tribunal. The government has not responded to this till date.
Green tragedy
According to activist Lubna Sarwath, encroachments on Osmansagar and Himayatsagar include a brick manufacturing compound, kacha roads, farmhouses, canteens, sports resort, sheds, temples, a college, borewell company, a water bottling unit, panchayat borewell etc