Lake laments as effluents being pumped in

Secunderabad: The remedy to the problems of R K Puram Lake lies in stoppage of sewerage water into the lake aver social activists who have been involved in the lake restoration. “Unless a detailed action plan with major focus on first stopping the polluted water from nearby colonies is not put in place, there is little hope for the lake to be cleaned up,” says lake conservationist B V Subba Rao.

R K Puram Lake has been in the news for the last few months, first when there was frothing due to pollution and in the last few days when the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) cracked down on the piggeries abutting the lake.

The Pollution Control Board officials say that a study on the restoration of the lake is underway. B T Srinivas, general secretary, United Federation of Resident Welfare Associations, says, “Talks of cleaning the lake have been going on for years but till date nothing has come of it. Are we waiting for a catastrophe?”

Animal slaughter started a few years ago close to the lake and the waste is being dumped into the water body, further polluting the lake. Madhav Rao, a resident of Neredmet, says, “Even if the lake is cleaned, unless the entry points of sewerage water is not plugged, the lake can never be saved.”

Residents say that several representations were submitted in the last few years but there has been no effort from the authorities except a few site visits.