Hyderabad:�The Telangana High Court on Wednesday issued directions to the Lake Protection Committee of the HMDA and other departments to clarify whether the extent of Pedda Cheruvu lake of Ramanthapur in Uppal mandal of Medchal district is in 17 acres and 26 guntas or spread over 30 acres. It was the authorities to publish the final notification on the full tank level (FTL) of the lake.
The High Court gave a timeline to issue the final notification with reasoning, after hearing the objections by residents on the preliminary notification issued by it, within three weeks. The court also directed the GHMC to fence the lake within six months.
The court also made it clear that no constructions will be permitted in FTLs and buffer zones and it does not matter when the colonies or houses were built.
The Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice J. Sreenivas Rao was dealing with a PIL of 2005 regarding the existence of Pedda Cheruvu and 25 implead petitions, which challenged the preliminary notification issued by the Lake Protection Committee.
The High Court also made it clear to the committee to give an opportunity to residents of the surrounding areas of the lake who are objecting to the preliminary notification of October 11, 2023, which mentioned that the water body spread of the lake is around 30 acres.
The PIL is based on the communication addressed to the High Court that the lake is shrinking and it was being used as a dump yard.
Ch. Jayakrishna, the standing counsel for GHMC and Pasham Krishna Reddy the counsel for HMDA argued that residents are against the survey of the lake and in fixing the FTL.