Hyderabad: Seventeen days after asking residents of temporary sheds within the Full Tank Level (FTL) area of Muskin Cheruvu in Narsingi to vacate, Hyderabad Disaster Response and Asset Protection Agency (HYDRAA) officials issued a fresh warning, saying the structures could be demolished at any time.
Officials from HYDRAA, Revenue and Irrigation departments visited the site on Saturday evening, May 17, timing the visit to catch residents who had returned from work, and told those still occupying the sheds to leave immediately. “We may come within a day or two and remove them at any time,” they said.
Only 10 per cent of residents had vacated since the original April 29 deadline, officials said, despite a 10-day window that was subsequently extended by another week.
Realtors using residents as human shields, say officials
HYDRAA officials told residents that they were being used as cover by realtors seeking to encroach on the lake’s FTL area. “Realtors are trying to occupy lands within the lake’s FTL area by keeping you in temporary sheds. By dumping construction debris and soil, they have altered the lake’s original form,” officials said, adding that garbage was being dumped and waste released into the lake, and that trash was being burned, polluting it.
Officials said the encroachers had been informed six months ago to vacate but had not passed this information on to the residents living in the sheds. “Since they are not conveying this information to you, we are telling you directly,” they said.
52 acre under FTL, 34 acre disputed
Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) has determined that Muskin Lake’s FTL area spans 52.20 acre, extending to 62 acre including the buffer zone. The lake is the only one located amid thousands of residences in the area and is frequented by lakhs of people.
Of the FTL area, a private company – Pioneer Company – claims ownership of around 18 acre, while 12 acre belong to farmers and another 4.20 acre are claimed by various individuals, bringing the total privately claimed area to 34.20 acre. The remaining 21 acre are classified as government shikam land.
Officials said continuous dumping of construction debris, soil and garbage had caused the lake to shrink considerably.
Revenue officials had earlier demolished a boundary wall constructed within the buffer zone. Despite this, a major construction company has been filling the lake with soil and preparing to undertake construction within the FTL area, officials said. Canals carrying floodwater have also been blocked and boundary walls raised to prevent water inflow, local residents pointed out.
Officials noted that regulations permit only agriculture on shikam patta lands within the FTL area and prohibit any construction or alteration of land use. While compensation through Transferable Development Rights (TDR) was a possible route for landowners within the FTL area, neither farmers nor realtors had pursued it. “You alone will suffer unnecessary losses, so you should vacate,” officials told residents.
HYDRAA said that if the lake is fully developed, it would improve the surrounding environment and raise groundwater levels in the area.
