HYDERABAD: The National Green Tribunal (NGT) Southern Zone has called for a comprehensive report by the concerned authorities in Telangana government on all lakes in Ranga Reddy district on which there are petitions filed in the tribunal.
The NGT passed this direction on Thursday during the online hearing of a petition filed by city-based lake protection activist Lubna Sarwath on the destruction of Narsingi lake in Ranga Reddy district. Sarwath said that the NGT directed the Ranga Reddy District Collector to stop further destruction of the lake and bring violators to justice. The municipal authorities have been ordered to present a report on action taken on the issue.
Sarwath, in her petition, said that during a field survey it was found that the Narsingi lake was being levelled by the dumping of boulders from real estate developers. She mentioned that as per a digital survey done using Google Earth, the destruction of the lake started in 2016 itself.
She pointed out that this was allowed to happen by the government authorities despite the fact that the lake was notified by the Lake Protection Committee of the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority in the year 2013. However, the FTL boundary maps and cadastral maps have not been uploaded online so far.