The GHMC was till recently constructing a stormwater drain (nala) on the bed of the famous Banjara lake. This may have damaged the water body and is a violation of a standing directive of the Supreme Court. In apparent “understanding” between the officials and the contractor, the civic body began constructing the drain without a work order.
The founder convener of Save Our Urban Lakes, Ms Jasween Jairath, said the construction of the ‘nala’ was being done in the face of complaints by civil society organisations. “The engineer-in-chief of the GHMC was informed in writing, but he chose to ignore the matter and refused to stop the work. Taking advantage of this deliberate negligence by the ENC and other GHMC staff, the contractor aggressively continued with his work,” says Ms Jairath.
Later, the civic authorities issued a perfunctory statement that the work had been wrongly carried out, but nothing was done to rectify the damage that had already been done to the lake. Activists allege that attempts are being made by GHMC staff to justify the construction, saying that the partially constructed concrete bed is actually beneficial to the lake. “The illegal nala should be removed and no attempt should be made to protect the contractor or erring GHMC staff. There has been soft pedaling of the problem created by GHMC,” adds Ms Jairath.
Any interference with water seepage to the ground, they add, is detrimental. The apathy of the Water Board has exacerbated the matter. The Water Board, by failing to operationalise its interception and diversion unit near the lake area, has turned it into a swampy, marshy place. GHMC engineer-in-chief R. Dhan Singh clarifies, “Since there was a clarity issue on the boundary of the lake, in the process we have made the small stretch of the nala. However, we have stopped the work.”