HYDERABAD: A bench of the Telangana High Court on Wednesday directed the authorities to restrain encroachers from raising unauthorised structures in the Full Tank Level (FTL) and Buffer Zone of Meerpet Pedda Cheruvu, located at Meerpet village in Balapur mandal of Rangareddy district, and maintain status quo. The respondents were asked to submit their counters before the next day of the hearing, and the PIL was adjourned to July 20, 2023.
Akula Padma filed a PIL against the respondents for failing to take any action against the illegal encroachment on buffer zone lands and FTL lands in Sy. No. 46 (part) and Sy. No. 61 (Shikam) of Meerpet village. She claimed that the said lands are not only being subjected to encroachments by local people erecting houses in the FTL area but have also led to the closure of Pedda Cheruvu due to the dumping of soil and other construction material.
Many wetlands have been threatened by conversion to non-wetland purposes and have been used beyond their acceptable limits through landfilling, pollution, and over-exploitation of their natural resources. Such actions are a violation of Environmental Laws, Supreme Court, High Court, and NGT directions, the PIL said.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Ujjal Bhuyan and Justice N Tukaramji heard B Rachana Reddy, senior counsel appearing for the petitioner, before granting status quo orders and serving notices on the Chief Secretary, Principal Secretaries of the Irrigation and Revenue departments, Rangareddy district Collector, Commissioners of GHMC and HMDA, Divisional Engineer, Irrigation Department, and other authorities, directing them to file counters to the PIL by July 20, 2023.
‘Illegal structures’
As per the PIL, there is illegal encroachment on buffer zone lands and FTL lands in Sy. No. 46 (part) and Sy. No. 61 (Shikam) of Meerpet village. Locals are building houses in the FTL area leading to the shrinking of the water body, it added