Hussain Sagar Lake

Hussain Sagar Lake is one of the largest man made lake situated at the confluence of Hyderabad, Secunderabad and Begumpet. It is a sprawling artificial lake that holds water perennially. Its uniqueness lies in the fact that it connects the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad. The lake was built in the year 1575 by Sultan Ibrahim Kutb Shah at a cost of about Rs. 2.5 lakhs. The lake was originally constructed to supply drinking water but it is not used as a drinking water source since 1930. The lake also protected the citizens staying in the low lying areas around the lake from floods.

The main threat to the lake is encroachment by both private and public agencies. In the past 30 years, the lake has shrunk about 40 % of its original size (550 ha to 349 ha). In addition to the encroachment the lake also faces the problem of pollution due to the continuous discharge of untreated domestic sewage and toxic industrial chemicals for several years. Although several Central Effluent Treatment Plant and Sewage Treatment plant have grown up to restrict the pollution yet a considerable amount of sewage flows into the lake.

Public Interest litigation has been filed for the first time in the year 1995 by KL Vyas, convener of the ‘Save the Lake Campaign’. The PIL was filed in the Andhra Pradesh High Court (HC), against the Government of Andhra Pradesh, seeking protection of 170 lakes in Hyderabad. While the PIL encompassed all the lakes that were under threat, its attention was focused on the Saroornagar Lake that was under severe stress due to large-scale encroachment on its catchment area and alarming level of pollution. The judgment on the PIL included the protection of all the water bodies in the state of Andhra Pradesh.

The Hyderabad Urban Development Authority (HUDA) came up with a notification in 2000 to protect the lakes in and around Hyderabad. Despite such notification, there are several instances of permissions given by HUDA itself for residential colonies in lakebeds. A number of tourism-related beautification works carried by HUDA (under the aegis of Buddha Purnima Project Development Authority) around Hussain Sagar could be considered a serious violation of its own notification.