Yellamma Cheruvu court order ignored
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The famous Yellamma Cheruvu lake near Jayanagar Colony in Kukatpally continues to shrink as construction in the lake bed continues even in defiance of court orders. Local activists have been fighting to protect the lake for almost a decade. They succeeded in getting an order from the AP High Court, directing the state government and its agencies, to ensure the protection of the lake and remove encroachments from the lake bed. However, the government and its agencies have failed to follow the court’s directions.
A well-known city developer has a villa project right on the Full Tank Level (FTL) boundary of the lake and many other constructions have encroached into the lake. According to revenue records the lake covers an area of 41.11 acres, but today, only half of this area is actually left. Government rules stipulate that even after the FTL boundary, a nine-metre ‘buffer zone’ must be maintained. But builders have ignored this stipulation and the authorities have raised no objections.
“As private developers don’t care about the honourable HC order and keep on filling the lake and continue constructing, we are sending notices to the government agencies and private parties that we are approaching the court for contempt of court,” says G. Balaswamy, general secretary of the Jayanagar Colony Welfare Association. “The authorities and the builders are working hand-in-hand to fill up the lake. Recently, irrigation department officials came to re-fix the FTL boundaries. They surveyed the line right at the lake, instead of keeping the FTL away from the water,” adds Mr Balaswamy.
The deputy collector of Balalanagar, Mr G. Balaiah said, “We are aware of the encroachment on the lake bed, but till the time the FTL boundary is not fixed we can't do anything. Once the FTL is fixed, within 24 hours time we will remove the encroachments.”
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