The Telangana high court gave order on, no constructions within the full tank level (FTL) of Khajaguda lake would be allowed and asked the government to inform it by August 17 whether any lake protection committee (LPC) was constituted to protect lakes in Rangareddy district.
Stating that there was no coordination among key departments like revenue, irrigation and GHMC, a bench of Chief Justice Raghvendra Singh Chauhan and Justice B Vijaysen Reddy said: “If you (authorities) are not saving the lakes, you are jeopardising the lives of the people.”
The judges said encroachers were exploiting lack of coordination among various wings. “There should be a permanent LPC and police should be made part of the committee,” they said.
They were hearing a PIL filed by social activist Lubna Sarwath, who brought to the notice of the court construction activity undertaken by the authorities within Khajaguda lake area and sought directions to the government to stop forthwith any intervention with the lake.
Amicus curiae MV Pratap Kumar told the bench that HMDA has two versions about the actual extent of Khajaguda lake. The bench had earlier directed HMDA to furnish to the court all the three maps that were showing different extents of the lake. The judges sought answers from HMDA for the discrepancies in the maps.
They also sought to know from the government as to what concrete steps were taken to protect the lakes or to evict the encroachers in Rangareddy.
