HYDERABAD: The committee set up by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) to monitor the Musi river rejuvenation works, led by former Judge of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana Vilas Afzalpurkar, has requested the tribunal to issue directions to the Telangana government to take expeditious action to remove all recent and temporary encroachments on the Musi under the Telangana Land Encroachment Act.
The committee has suggested that the encroachments be classified as ‘temporary’, ‘permanent’, ‘recent’ or as ‘old encroachments’ for taking action against them.
Around 170 temporary structures (huts and commercial sheds) and three religious structures that were illegally constructed on the Musi river bed were removed from 2018 to 2020 by the state government, informed the Committee in its report submitted to the NGT. Most of the temporary structures, numbering around 138, were removed by the government in the year 2019.
The committee has also requested the NGT to issue directions to the Telangana government to make finances available for the construction of 31 Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs) along the Musi so that around 1,187 Million Litres per Day (MLD) of untreated sewage that gets discharged into the river can be treated. According to the report, 1,960 MLD of sewage is discharged into the Musi river, of which only 772.3 MLD is treated in 25 STPs.
The committee has also requested the NGT to issue directions to the HMWS&SB to finish the construction of seven additional co-treatment facilities for fecal sludge collected from areas in Hyderabad where the sewage network is not available, and to issue directions for the formation of a committee having members of the GHMC and Forest Department for the sake of development of biodiversity parks along the Musi.
The NGT had issued direction constituting the monitoring committee last year in September. Since then, the committee held three meetings with concerned state government agencies including the TSPCB, MRDCL and HMWS&SB, and also undertook a field visited on the 12th of this month.
‘Finish construction of sludge treatment facilities’
The committee has also requested the NGT to issue directions to the HMWS&SB to finish the construction of seven additional co-treatment facilities for fecal sludge collected from areas in Hyderabad where the sewage network is not available, and to issue directions for the formation of a committee for the sake of development of biodiversity parks along the Musi.