After years of continuous appeals by students and wildlife activists, authorities at the University of Hyderabad have finally formed a technical team to probe the pollution of the water bodies in the campus.
In April a student at the University had alleged that a huge amount of sewage was entering one of the major lakes on campus and that it could soon turn into a potential hazard for wildlife on the premises.
The varsity sprung into action only after an IAS officer, and environmentalist Tejdeep Kaur Menon, wrote a letter to the Vice-Chancellor about the pollution of the water bodies.
TNM couldn’t speak to Tejdeep to confirm this.
Speaking to TNM, Ashish Jacob, PRO, University of Hyderabad said that the varsity has constituted a team to conduct a detailed inquiry into how sewage water from the abutting Gachibowli Stadium and other apartments have been streamed into the lakes.
“We recently got a letter from Tejdeep about this, following which a technical team has been constituted”, he stated.
The University with over 1,000 acres is listed as a wildlife area and houses many endangered species including spotted deer and peacocks. It also has two lakes—the Buffalo Lake and the Peacock Lake.
Ravi Jillalapalli, a student and wildlife activist, who had earlier brought the issue to light, said that he had been appealing against the pollution of the lake for almost five years now.
“I wrote to former UoH VC, Ramaswamy and many others previously. Recently, I also wrote to the present Vice-Chancellor, Appa Rao Podile. He assured me of looking into the issue. But I don’t think there was any action taken, forcing me to take a video and upload it on Facebook to draw public support,” he said.
"When I approached the Telangana Sports authorities of the Gachibowli stadium related to the issue. They said that they will look into the matter and also stated that the sewage must be coming from other neighbouring luxurious buildings too," he added.
According to Ravi, the wildlife in the campus has been shrinking owing to poaching. "Some say they were many mysterious deaths of deer and wild boars. The population of the deer has been dwindling. Issues like these should be prioritised and the varsity should take an initiative to save water bodies and the wildlife dependent on it", Ravi said.