HYDERABAD: In an attempt to restore Katora Houz, the 450-year-old four-acre, symmetrical, man-made cup-shaped water tank located inside the Golkonda Fort, the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) in August 2018, started desilting works in the tank. The corporation has spent over `50 lakh for removing trash and water hyacinth from the lake.
“The tank has, yet again, turned into a cesspool,” said Junaid Ahmed, a resident of Resham Bagh, Golkonda Fort. The once magnificent water storage facility has been reduced to a dump yard with mosquitoes breeding in the polluted waters.
“Hyacinth has come back after a few months and with it, mosquitoes have also started breeding in the tank,” he said. Katora Houz is an Archeological Survey of India (ASI) protected the structure and according to Superintending Archeologist of ASI, Hyd, Milan Kumar Chauley, the GHMC has initially converted Katora Houz into a cesspool by diverting drainage water into it.
“Later, the corporation has decided to clean it. The State government wanted Katora Houz to be converted into a recreation park,” he said.
ASI approved the State government’s proposal and permitted the GHMC to clean up the tank. “But the corporation, even after spending huge amount failed to divert the sewerage lines. And yet again, Katora Houz is back to as it was before,” he said.
Now the tank is filled with sewerage water, hyacinth, weed, and trash. When contacted, local MLA of the area, Kausar Moinuddin said, “The tank will be cleared again. The project was delayed because of the delay in approval from the government. For now, the amount for desilting has been sanctioned. Very soon we will have a recreation park with boating facility in it,” he said.
“We are doing our part,” Milan Kumar Chauley, said, “Since people are also dumping trash into the pool, we decided to build a fence around it. We will also increase the height of the boundary wall,” he added.