Hyderabad:

City businessman Sudhir Ram Reddy recollects a time when the Hussain Sagar water was so clear that he would enjoy swimming here everyday. Four decades later, he can barely manage to walk on the lake’s shore without covering his nose. Not just the swimming, he even misses walking around what was once a beautiful, clean lake.

The stench is now driving away morning walkers who rue that it is becoming worse with each passing day. “I have been jogging every morning around the lake for two years and it is really disheartening because I cannot avoid the stinking smell the lake emits,” said Dayakar Sharma, a software engineer working with Google. Another regular wasn’t too happy with the practice of burning the garbage. “We come here every morning to play cricket . Some parts of the lake are maintained while the other parts are ignored. There’s a garbage dumpster where the refuse is burnt at 8 am everyday ,” said Jeevan Kumar, a Begum Bazaar resident who was seen playing cricket with his friends at the lakeside.

Activists have been crying foul over the poor upkeep of the lake for the last many years and point out that little is done to protect it. “Less than a year ago, a temple wall was raised on the lake with a lot of mud being dumped in the process. The activities around the lake add on to the plastic dumping all around the shore. We lodged complaints but they fell on deaf ears. All this is happening right under the nose of the Buddha Purnima Project Authorities,” said Jasveen Jairath, convener of SOUL (Save Our Urban Lakes). There are four nalas that are connected to the Hussain Sagar lake carrying both sewage and industrial waste. These nalas (Picket, Balkapur, Kukatpally and Banjara) were used as storm water drain. Of these four, Kukatpally nala brings the most toxic waste.

Officials say they are now addressing this toxic concern. “Our focus is mainly to divert these nalas. We have almost diverted 80% of the waste. With a funding of Rs 370 crores from the Japanese International Corporation Agency and the state government, the HMDA and the GHMC are working on the improvement of the lake’s condition,” said BLN Reddy, executive engineer, lakes division, HMDA.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / Home> City> Hyderabad / by Pranati Goturi / August 22nd, 2012