HYDERABAD: The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) is once again preparing to clean Katora Houze, a symmetrical, four-acre 400-year-old Qutub Shahi pool near Golconda Fort. MAUD Principal Secretary Arvind Kumar, on Sunday, tweeted that cleaning of Katora Hauz has begun. “JCBs are being used for the purpose as Floating Trash Collectors could not be deployed because of lack of depth.”
Since 2018, the GHMC has been working on restoring the past glory Katora Houz. The corporation had desilted the pool twice and has sanctioned crores for cleaning the water body that continues to remain a cesspool. According to locals, GHMC is cleaning the waste that it lets in intentionally. “This lake is filled with sewerage water. GHMC has turned drainage culverts into it from neighbouring areas,” Syed Munawar, a resident of Resham Bagh, Golconda Fort, whose house is adjacent to the pool said.
“The lake not only emits foul odour but is also a breeding site for mosquitoes,” he adds. In August 2018, GHMC started desilting Katora Houz. The works were undertaken after MA&UD Minister KT Rama Rao wanted the water body to be converted into a tourism recreation destination. The corporation sanctioned over `35 lakh for desilting the pool. “GHMC removed the hyacinth, but forgot periodic maintenance so the heritage pool was yet again a cesspool,” said another resident of Resham Bagh, Imtiaz Mohammed.
In late 2019, GHMC yet again sanctioned nearly `50 lakh for desilting the water body but stopped working on it during the lockdown and left the work unfinished. In the October 2020 floods, a portion of Katora Houz collapsed and, in February 2021, GHMC sanctioned `3.6 crore for the development of Katora Houz.
Local MLA of the area, Kausar Moinuddin, told Express, “The lake will be desilted. All the culverts and drainage pipelines are being diverted. The project got delayed because of the delay in approval from the Archeological Survey of India (ASI). The approval from ASI for the restoration of the damaged portion of the pool is still awaited. Once that’s through, we will have a recreation site near the fort in a year.”
A source from ASI said that GHMC has let in drainage pipes into the pool.