Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court on Wednesday, November 27, sought updates from state government officials regarding the determination of the full tank level (FTL) for 3,532 lakes within the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) area.
The bench, led by Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice J Sreenivas Rao, has set a deadline of December 30 for these officials to submit a status report on their progress.
This issue arose from a public interest litigation (PIL) initiated two weeks prior, focusing on the need to ascertain FTLs and implement protective measures for these lakes.
During the hearing, government pleader Pottigari Sridhar Reddy reported that preliminary notifications had been issued for 2,793 lakes, with final notifications completed for 530 lakes.
He requested an additional three months to finalize notifications for the remaining lakes, but the court emphasized its intention to monitor progress closely and would review updates periodically.
The court had previously summoned the HMDA commissioner to ensure timely completion of this task and appointed two advocates as court commissioners to investigate encroachments affecting key lakes in Greater Hyderabad.
Notably, there had been little progress on this matter from 2016 to 2023, but recent state initiatives aimed at cleaning the Musi River and protecting lakes through the establishment of HYDRAA have reignited focus on these environmental concerns.
