HYDERABAD: The Telangana High Court on Monday directed the State to stop any illegal construction near a water body at Puppulguda village in Rajendranagar mandal of Ranga Reddy district. It further directed the State immediately to remove any encroachment on the said water body. The bench directed the State and its Pollution Control Board (PCB) and authorities of Musi River Development Corporation and State WALTA Authority and Lake Protection Committee to file their counter affidavits in the PIL filed seeking protection of above water body.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Raghvendra Singh Chauhan and Justice B Vijaysen Reddy was hearing a PIL filed by Lubna Sarwath, a social activist. In the PIL, Sarwath sought direction to the authorities for removing encroachments on the said water body and evict encroachers from the river bed of Musi river near Shankar Nagar, Rajendranagar mandal, Ranga Reddy district. Due to illegal constructions and encroachment, the water bodies are missing from HMDA’s database.
She also sought directions to the authorities of WALTA and Lake Protection Committee to take measures for restoring the water and its hydrology within a time frame. When the bench sought the government’s response, state advocate general BS Prasad sought four weeks time for filing counter affidavit on the issue. “The Court will not allow anyone to encroach upon the water bodies”, the bench noted. It directed the registry to tag the present case with a PIL filed earlier regarding encroachment of Katta Maisamma cheruvu in Quthbullapur mandal. The bench appointed advocate K Pavan Kumar to assist the court in the case and posted the matter to June 24 for further hearing.