The only lake on the eastern periphery of Greater Hyderabad that had retained its pristine nature till recently is on the verge of becoming another encroached, diminished cesspool thanks to the apathy and connivance of the municipal and irrigation officials.
The Fathullaguda lake with an expansive spread of water enclosed by rich vegetation has a picturesque presence even now, if one can ignore the side of the urban sprawl that keeps closing in on the Full Tank Level (FTL). It is one of the precious few lakes which have been notified by the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority and cordoned off with a chain link fence to ward off encroachments. Now, the chain link exists in bits and pieces, exposing the lake area to land mafia.
A temple under construction can be seen encroaching part of the lake’s buffer area after removal of fence. Heaps of excavated earth, along with discarded pipelines and construction material is dumped into the lake area, and a few buildings have been freshly constructed after levelling the earth. What’s more, the encroachments have reportedly got building permissions too from the Pedda Amberpet Municipality, thanks to the connivance by the Irrigation Department officials who cleared the application.
