Lakes turning violent against the encroaching residents was the dominant narrative during October floods which played havoc with the lives of city residents. A few lakes, however, exacted their revenge by remaining stoical!
Stench and sludge is all that remains of the Chinnarayauni Cheruvu in Alwal, even after the tumultuous floods that washed away stagnation in several other lakes.
Notwithstanding the tall promises made by leaders and government officials one after the other, there is little change in the status quo with regard to the lake, which continues to make life miserable for the teeming residential colonies surrounding it.
Anand Rao Nagar, Janaki Nagar, Bharathi Nagar, Bheem Rao Nagar, MES Colony, Sai Nagar, Dinakar Nagar, Ram Nagar and Temple Alwal are a few of the several localities which are bearing the brunt of the sewage-filled lake.
Notified
Chinnarayauni Cheruvu, also known as Old Alwal Cheruvu, was notified by HMDA in 2016, three years after it was surveyed and FTL boundaries were marked. By then, however, several structures rose, within the full tank level of the lake and also blocking the inlet channels, reducing its capacity to receive and hold flood water.
As a result, the lake had not received much inflow even while the whole city was drowning during heavy rains in October this year. Instead, the colonies upstream received the brunt, as the surplus water from the Alwal Cheruvu which ought to have found its way to this lake, drowned colonies such as Srinivasa Nagar enroute.
The lake remains receptacle of sewage from all the surrounding localities, which has resulted in stagnant water thick with stench, sludge and pollution. Weed growth has occupied a large portion of the lake, making it a breeding hub of mosquitoes.
“The lake stinks, and we have the chronic scourge of mosquitoes too. It has become unbearable and several petitions to the government, legislator, GHMC Commissioner, and corporator have remained futile,” says N.S.Srinivasa Rao, resident of MES Colony.
Madhukar Mane, secretary of the MES Colony Welfare Association, who has stayed here for the previous 40 years, remembers the lake as huge. It had a sprawl of 28 to 30 acres, before it was encroached upon. Now, it has been reduced to about 13 to 14 acres, he says.
“We have seen three municipal commissioners promising lake development, but nothing has been done so far,” Mr.Madhukar says.
Two and a half years ago, ₹1.25 crore was sanctioned for the lake’s development under the Urban Mission Kakatiya programme, but nothing was done except removal of water hyacinth weed.
The funds proved to have been ill spent, with the weed growing back in no time.
“Big promises of establishing sewage treatment plant have never been fulfilled. They could have simply diverted the sewage, which was not done,” Mr.Madhukar says. The welfare association has undertaken lake cleaning operations six to seven times, and removed plastic and other waste from it, he says.