Pond filled up for walking track, marked as ‘development’ under CSR initiative

It’s a mess inside the diminutive park managed by the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) at the farther end of Road No.5, in Jubilee Hills.

Truckloads of debris has been dumped in what was a water body in an obvious attempt at laying a walking track. Dark silt dripping sewage is dredged out, and has been heaped to a side. A motor pump works to drain the murky water out of the pit. An occasional waterfowl circles overhead, not losing the hope of finding a meal despite the disorder.

Two pipes of 900 mm diameter protrude from the mass of earth dumped into the pond at two different locations– one to receive fresh flow of rainwater and another to drain the surplus water.

Wherever trees are obstructing work on the walking track, they are yanked out by an excavator machine which is also used to fill and level the insides of the pond.

This is the idea of lake beautification and development for GHMC, and also its partner, a voluntary organisation, which is funding the project under the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative. Sewage diversion, walking track, and the laying of inlet and outlet pipelines can be seen as the major components of the project on the ground. “Rotary Club International approached us seeking to develop the lake under its CSR initiative, and we have given consent. We are not aware of the filling inside the lake, but we cautioned them against it,” a circle level official said.

As seen from the freshly installed manhole covers outside the lake, the sewage diversion process is complete.

A 15-20 foot wide stormwater drain located by the road towards Jubilee Hills Check-post, had fed the lake earlier. It now lies defunct, heavily littered, thick with undergrowth, and encroached upon. Towards the end of the drain and across it, one can see the sewage flow gurgling away from the lake, after being intercepted. The newly laid stormwater drain, interestingly, meets the same sewage line, further ahead, to pollute the lake downstream.

“This is just another pathetic attempt at the so-called lake development, in the name of which the lake is filled, and trees are removed with impunity. The sewage is diverted, but the outflow channel still meets the sewage downstream. How many such temporary fixes will provide redress to the perennial problem the city is facing?” asks Uday Krishna Peddireddi from Vata Foundation.

The locations of the inlet and outlet of the pond are completely altered, and GHMC officials informed that it was done in consultation with the engineers.

The Lake Protection Committee (LPC) under the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) does not have this lake in its database of notified lakes. Despite GHMC officials being aware of the existence of the water body, no attempt has been made to include it in the list, nor to mark its full tank level. Irrigation department officials have not been taken into confidence at all before according permission for development.