HYDERABAD: In a letter to the Lake Protection Committee, Hyderabad district collector, GHMC Commissioner and other authorities, lake protection activist Lubna Sarwath pointed out that the Humayunkunta lake near Asifnagar has been encroached upon by private persons claiming the lake land to be theirs. She demanded that the encroachments be removed.

Sarwath observed that there are huts inside the lake bed, that are watched over by ‘supervisors’ who claimed there is no lake and that they own the land. She also observed that the natural drainage channels of the lake at the inflow and outflow, were altered, damaged and concretized. Sarwath also pointed out that while the HMDA lists the lake as Humayunkunta, GHMC records mention it as Devunikunta.

In her letter, she noted  with Google Earth images of the lake, as to how there have been systemic attempts at land-filling the lake and encroaching it.