India News

HYDERABAD: Osman Ali Khan must be turning in his grave. Hundred years after the great floods of Hyderabad in 1908 that prompted the seventh Nizam to construct the Osmansagar and Himayatsagar reservoirs, the two water bodies are in imminent danger of drying up.

The two together have provided drinking water to the twin cities for many decades, but now there is pressure on the state government to let go of restrictions that ensure unhindred flow of rainwater into the lakes. These restrictions are via GO 111 that is of 1996 vintage, and this prevents construction activities in 84 upstream villages which form the catchment areas for these two lakes. The villages are lifelines for the two rain-fed reservoirs.

But with Hyderabad fast expanding, the limits of the city have come closer to where the two reservoirs are. This has led to an unprecedented boom in realty that even in these bad days of meltdown are worth tens of crores.

Farmers in these 84 villages are now protesting that they should not be deprived of the benefit of high real estate prices. Late last week, they cornered the chief minister who came visiting that area even as the gram panchayats have taken a decision that they would intensify their agitation for relaxation of GO 111. The farmers’ contention: “All villagers save those in these 84 villages are cashing in on this boom, so why should they not be allowed to do so?”

The catch, however, is that the fate of GO 111 is sub-judice. A division bench of the AP High Court headed by Chief Justice Anil Dave is hearing a case filed by an activist, Jeevananda Reddy, that the government is continually allowing violation of GO 111. Reddy contends that constructions beyond permissible limits in the catchment areas are being ignored by the government and as many as 128 illegal layouts have come up in the region. This will kill the flow of water into the Osmansagar and Himayatsagar and will ultimately reduce them to the same state as the dried up Musi river.

The government in its arguments in the case has said that it will strengthen the GO by actually bringing in an ordinance that will be converted into law. This will bring greater protection to the two reservoirs, because breach of law is legally challengable unlike a GO that cannot be challenged.

But the government intention is yet to be translated into action, even as local farmers pressurise the government on the eve of the elections. Though the government may not have argued on these lines, the official belief is that the two reservoirs ( unlike before) are not the two main supply sources of water to Hyderabad anymore.

Though water shortage in Hyderabad is a reality, the river Krishna is quenching the thirst of the city to a large extent. In future the river Godavari will also be tapped to meet the drinking water needs of the city. So what is the need for the two reservoirs, is the unstated argument. But civil society activists say that this water from the Goadavari will have to be stored somewhere close to the city before being distributed. This is good enough reason for the two reservoirs to be protected along with its catchment areas.

Though the government has not revealed the contents of the ordinance that it may promulgate, to the High Court, analysts aver that it may reduce the 10 km catchment area of the two water bodies where GO 111 is operative down to 5 km. This way many villages may get out of the ambit of the GO 111.