Saroornagar Lake to soon sink due to encroachments
Hyderabad- One of the most popular city lakes, Saroornagar Lake on the city fringes will soon sink due to the encroachment activities. This man made lake was dug in the year 1626 in order to meet agricultural and drinking water needs.
After HussainSagar, Sarroornagar Lake is one of the largest water bodies in the twin cities as it is spread across 250 acres. However, due to the encroachment activities, the lake has reduced to 100 acres from 250 acres with 40 acres being encroached by the construction firms in order to build individual and multi-storeyed units in the past few decades.
According to a local resident, in the night, earth is dumped into the lake in colonies like Tapovan, Singareni and Green Park. Although the residents have filed a complaint with the authorities to provide security, yet no action has been taken against this.
Apart from catering with its water needs, this century old lake is one of the picnic hot spots for Hyderabadis who would drive down on weekends, even though it has lost its charm at present. Most visitors feel that it is no more worth visiting and has become a stinking pond. Activists state that if the authorities do not take instant action, it will stink like Hussainsagar.
Hussainsagar has an increased pollution level and the water spread area has shrunk to 50 percent in the past few decades. Originally the lake was spread across 550 hectares which has been now reduced to half. Also the oxygen content of the lake has dropped down to 3 from 3.9. Saroornagar lake is also likely to become the same with the increased amount of encroachments and mushrooming of various old-age homes, commercial and residential properties.
In a recent incident, an illegally built unit in the lake area was completely submerged, as per various environmentalists who are trying hard to save the lake.
Apart from the earth being dumped by the builders, solid and chemical effluents by the industries, a large volume of garbage is collected near the banks of the lake and burnt. The burnt garbage is later dumped into the lake making it more contaminated. This is a threat to the nearby residents and also that the sewerage treatment plant (STP) set up has been non functional since 2009.
When the revenue officials were asked about no action taken against the diminishing of the lake, they blamed the insufficient staff and machinery.
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Image courtesy Evgeni Dinev at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
agricultural and drinking water, encroachment activities, hot spots for Hyderabadis, Hussainsagar, Hyderabad, increased pollution level, largest water bodies, Residential properties, Saroornagar Lake, Sewerage treatment plant (STP)
