HYDERABAD: Residents of Kapra were left in absolute horror to see their pilot project of composting units being bulldozed by GHMC officials at the Kapra lake bed on Thursday. This was done to reportedly make parking space for Ganesh idol immersion. The incident took place on September 13 -— the beginning of Ganesh Chathurthi festivities — when GHMC officials destroyed 28 composting pits that had been set up with required permissions in September last year. The officials said that the area of 600 sq yards occupied by the pits would be used for parking vehicles transporting Ganesha idols.
The entire composting unit was built at `4 lakh by an IICT professor in collaboration with Khar Energy Optimisers and involved harvesting the water Hyacinth to get manure and clean the lake.
Professor KLN Raju of Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT), the man behind the project, said “The compost pits were constructed about 80 feet away from the ghat and in no way affected the immersion. The authorities knew this but refused to see alternatives.”
In the last year operations they had cleared around 10,000 tonnes of water hyacinth from the lake. “With the demolition of pits, all our energy and time has gone waste,” he added. Meanwhile, the locals are feeling their participation to conserve the lake has gone in vain and are discouraged with GHMC’s high handedness. “They are now claiming that they would rebuild it, but why break it in the first place. The structure in no way came between anything,” said Chandrashekhar, a resident.