KCR to GHMC: Clean up Hussainsagar in summer

It may sound crazy and also ambitious, but Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao is determined to clean the highly polluted landmark of state capital and 400 year old Hussain Sagar Lake and restore it to its former glory.

He has asked his Greater Hyderabad Municipal Commission (GHMC) officers to start pumping out polluted water from the Lake in the centre of the city from the end of the month. As per KCR's plan, the One TMC of stagnant water will be have to be pumped out first to allow the lake be to dry during summer.

There afterwards, he wants to excavate 35 to 40 lakh metric tons of silt mainly the debris from annual Ganesh immersion- POP, iron sheletons and chemical waste. Hussain Sagar which was built in 1562 was emptied for the first time a century ago.

According to sources in GHMC, three government departments Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority, Irrigation and GHMC will be involved in the draining process. In all 6 to 7 heavy motors with at least 1800 horse power will be used to pump out 400 cusecs of water per day. "It might take a month or month and a half to complete the draining out process," a senior official said.

In an effort to stop treated and untreated sewerage water from entering the lake through Picket, Banjara hills, Balkapur and Kukatpally Nala both the Sewerage Treatment Plants (STP) will be henceforth blocked. The Nala will be diverted at a cost of Rs 53 crore through a dedicated four kilometer long pipeline, say the officials

The real trouble is excavation of the 5 million cubic meters of silt from the 5.7 square kilometers lake bed and then transporting it far away from the city surroundings. The excavation will itself will cost the Telangana government Rs 100 cr. However the authorities will have to first fix the Full Tank Level (FTL) of the Hussain Sagar Lake so that encroachments could be identified. The FTL as pr the 1975 Topo Sheets of Survey of India is 513.14 meters.

Then there should be 100 meter buffer zone surrounding the water body for the restoration of Hussainsagar Lake to its original glory . It will become possible only after the illegal structures have been removed. The problems is with the land leased out by the government to Hyderabad Boats club, I max theatre complex, lake View Park, Jal Vihar Eat Street, Rock Garden, Yogi Bear Park, EME and Artillery center on the banks of the lake.The KCR government is working out a formula to evict the trenents by breaking their lease agreements.

The water pumped out of the lake will have to be sent out through the storm drain under the Tank Bund linking Secunderabad to Hyderabad and after creating numerous small lake beds inside the Tank.The GHMC hope that treated water readily available at the Khairatabad STP could be pumped to replace the polluted water.

The grand plan of the Telangana government is create a Petronas kind of landscape in and around Husseinsagar and also develop skyscrapper all around , an environment suitable for global corporate offices . It also wants to create another stand by reservoir /Tank near Indira Park( down stream of Husseinsagar for the purpose of immersion of Ganesh idols, an idea which was already rejected by the Ganesh Utsav Committee.