Locals in Hyderabad's Boduppal area have alleged that industries are continuing to pollute a lake in the area despite recent promises by authorities to resolve the issue.
Taking to Twitter, Prashanth Mamidala, a local resident posted a video of the 'Rama Cheruvu' lake, also known as the 'Raa Cheruvu', on Saturday morning which showed dark yellow liquid flowing through a storm water drain connected to the lake.
Look at this video pls pic.twitter.com/Jei1Fu1m4J
— Prashanth (@shanthchandra) May 23, 2020
"It is difficult to trace exactly which company is responsible for this, but it is coming from the Mallapur industrial area. The pollution has been going on for around 10 years and the lake has deteriorated a lot," Prashanth tells TNM.
For the last year or so, Prashanth and another group of locals have been working to clean up the lake and also make officials take note of the industrial pollution taking place.
@TelanganaPCB @CPCB_OFFICIAL @shanthchandra @Venkat1575 @MC_Boduppal @KTRTRS @ETspcb @MayorSBR Entire Boduppal is on high risk with the chemical ( Air & Water ) pollution of #RaaCheruvu Boduppal, @KTRTRS sir, As you say 10mins water removal campaign, how can you accept it .. pic.twitter.com/KIDDMOCpDu
— Navoday (@Navoday14) May 12, 2020
Last week, a red coloured liquid flowed through one of the drains, following which locals had raised an alarm.
@TelanganaPCB @CPCB_OFFICIAL #RAACheruvuBoduppal, What more proofs do u need?What more shud do to prove the lake is getting dumped wth chemical water. Is the #CoronaPandemic not enough to learn?@KTRTRS @chmallareddyMLA @revanth_anumula @MC_Boduppal @venu678 @SmitaSabharwal pic.twitter.com/Y4mslsqlvV
— Prashanth (@shanthchandra) May 8, 2020
At the time, the issue had reached Telangana Municipal Administration and Urban Development (MAUD) Minister KT Rama Rao, the son of Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, who asked Telangana Pollution Control Board (PCB) Member Secretary Neetu Prasad to look into the matter. "If proven true, take the most stringent action possible immediately," KTR had said.
Request @TelanganaPCB Member Secretary Neetu Prasad Ji to get this looked into & if proven true, take the most stringent action possible immediately @KTRoffice to follow up https://t.co/QJtoviCHRf
— KTR (@KTRTRS) May 18, 2020
Following this, sitting state minister and Medchal MLA Malla Reddy also visited the spot and assured people that action would be taken.
పురపాలక శాఖ మంత్రి కే.టీ.ఆర్ గారి ఆదేశాల మేరకు ఈ రోజు బొడుప్పల్ లోని రా చెరువు ని పరిశీలించడం జరిగింది.
— Chamakura Malla Reddy (@chmallareddyMLA) May 18, 2020
వీలైనంత త్వరగా గుర్రపు డెక్క,చెట్లు, చెత్త ను క్లిన్ చేయలని అధికారులను ఆదేశించడం జరిగింది.@KTRTRS @JakkaReddy pic.twitter.com/JIyXiQQr45
Despite this, in less than a week, locals have observed companies releasing industrial waste into the water again. Even the Central Pollution Control Board has taken note of the incident and asked for an 'Action Taken Report'. This report is yet to be made public, residents point out.
"Officials of the Telangana PCB had taken me to the lake last week and I showed them everything. They took water samples for tests but the report is yet to come out. This is a 45-acre lake and several thousand people live around it. The smell is unbearable. If this pollution continues, it will have disastrous consequences. We need to act before something big happens," Prashanth says.
Saini Naveen Kumar, a resident of Indranagar, says, "In areas like Malliah Nagar and which are downstream from the lake, the bore water is heavily polluted and people who live along the outlet naala are the ones who suffer the most."
"For the last two to three months, after we took up the issue, officials are working on cleaning the lake but it is not happening in a planned manner. They are not looking for a long-term solution. Raa Cheruvu was an important point in the manifesto of all the parties before the election in 2018 and 2019, but they seem to have forgotten it now," he adds.
The local residents also alleged that though the office of Minister KT Rama Rao was proactive, officials on the ground were not even willing to convene a meeting of stakeholders and include them, though they had many suggestions to offer.
Repeated calls to government officials went unanswered.