This story is from July 7, 2020

How did Khajaguda lake shrink? HC quizzes Telangana government on two different maps

The Telangana high court on Monday directed the municipal administration department and Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) to explain within two weeks why the extent of Khajaguda lake in Jubilee Hills has shrunk by 1.5 acres in five years (between 2014 and 2019).
How did Khajaguda lake shrink? HC quizzes Telangana government on two different maps
A view of the construction around Khajaguda lake
HYDERABAD: The Telangana high court on Monday directed the municipal administration department and Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) to explain within two weeks why the extent of Khajaguda lake in Jubilee Hills has shrunk by 1.5 acres in five years (between 2014 and 2019).
A bench of Chief Justice Raghvendra Singh Chauhan and Justice B Vijaysen Reddy also directed HMDA to furnish the two maps it had uploaded on its website earlier.
The two maps are not available on the HMDA website anymore. The bench earlier appointed advocate MV Pratap Kumar as amicus curiae to assist the court in the matter, while hearing a PIL filed by social activist Lubna Sarwath.
While summoning the signed and unsigned maps along with the latest map that was uploaded onto the HMDA website, the judges sought counters from the state government and HMDA and posted the case to July 21 for further hearing.
Pratap told the bench that there were allegations of constructions being allowed in the full tank level (FTL) area of the lake,which is also known as Pedda Cheruvu. He brought to the notice of the court about two maps pertaining to this lake uploaded by HMDA onto its website on February 25, 2014.
While one map that was signed by the authorities was showing the extent of the lake as 38.004 acres, the second map — unsigned — shows the extent as 38.40 acres. There is also a third map, uploaded by HMDA on September 19, 2019, showing the extent as 37 acres. “The extent of the lake was reduced by nearly 1.5 acres in the last five years,” he said.
According to the petitioner, the state government is taking up several work from the western boundary of the lake and up to the Biodiversity junction. Municipal administration minister KT Rama Rao had also inspected several work such as laying of roads across lakes, including Khajaguda lake, Lubna said.

She alleged that several lakes in the city were being filled in the name of development and urged the court to intervene as several aesthetic heritage rocks are also being blasted for paving the way for laying roads. According to her, the authorities were changing maps of lakes to justify their actions. She brought to the notice of the bench about an earlier order of the high court that imposed a blanket ban on any construction.
The high court, in its previous order, had said that it would not allow any deviations at the lake even for the purpose of public purpose, she recalled.
“In fact, the chief commissioner of land administration had issued a circular in September 2003 stating that all land covered with water bodies should be included in the revenue department’s prohibition list,” she pointed out.
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