HYDERABAD: At a time when the Telangana government has exuded confidence in restricting pollution of twin reservoirs — Himayatsagar and Osmansagar — by bringing in GO 69 after scrapping GO 111, a joint committee headed by Member Secretary of the National Wetlands Committee has flagged the degradation of 18-acre Bum-Rukn-ud-Doula lake in Shivarampally.
The committee has accused GHMC and the irrigation department of not taking any action against the encroachments. Moreover, activist Dr Lubna Sarwath had already filed a complaint against the rampant degradation of the heritage lake.
The committee in its report submitted to the National Green Tribunal has stated that two private septic tanks within the lake limits were filled with sewage. “Even though the tanks within the FTL limits of the lake are not in use, they are filled with sewage. The civic body shall immediately clean and then dismantle the septic tanks,” reads the report.
The committee further stated that sewage from adjacent colonies was being released into the lake untreated. The committee also highlighted encroachments on the lake bed in absence of proper FTL boundaries. “Other recommendations of the joint committee also need to be addressed by the respective authority,” said NGT while issuing directions to the Telangana government and to submit its report by July 11.
Sewage turns lake toxic
The committee further stated that sewage from adjacent colonies was being released into the lake, untreated