HYDERABAD: Residents of Sainikpuri and surrounding areas have taken to Twitter and are asking the TRS working president, KT Rama Rao to protect the Kapra lake from being encroached by land sharks.
On Sunday, the organization, Green Sainikpuri, posted an explanatory video on the issue that bogs one of the biggest lakes in the GHMC limits. The local residents alleged that a private builder who is claiming a part of the lake’s land as his private property, is halting beautification work of the lake taken up by the State government.
Recently, inlets to the Kapra lake were closed to prevent the inflow of sewerage into the lake, and water from the lake was drained out by the authorities to conduct de-silting operations and for beautification.
The residents allege that since the lake has dried up, and the lake bed lies exposed, a builder came forward to claim a chunk of the lake bed as his private land and halted workers. When contacted, a senior MAUD official informed Express that a large portion of the land under the lake belong to the private builder, and that a case regarding the same is pending in the High Court. The official said, “There have been such issues in other lakes as well, where part of the lake land was owned by private persons and beautification works halted.
In such cases, the GHMC either gave Transfer Development Rights (TDR) or financial compensation depending on the size of the land to the owners, and took possession.” The official, added, that, “However, in most such cases, the expanse of private land is small unlike, in the case of Kapra lake where the extent of private land runs in acres. Paying financial compensation of TDR in such cases would be difficult.”