Sankranti was nothing much to cheer about for more than 20 families at Allapur, Kukatpally, when dirty water from the nearby Sunnam Lake spilled into their homes late on Monday night.
The worst affected was the family of sisters Anita and Rajeshwari, who lost everything. “Water started trickling in slowly since Monday night when we were sleeping. The pressure was increasing, and finally a lot had accumulated,” said Anita, ruing that her family could not celebrate the festival, and was helpless to do anything to save their belongings.
Hameed Khan, the local Majilis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM), leader alleged that incident was a result of official apathy. “I had taken up the issue of fencing the lake in 2009 with Kukatpally MLA Jayaprakash Narayan, as there is a builder who is trying to encroach upon the lake. He met the encroacher, and assured us he would look into the matter,” Mr. Khan said. When contacted, Aleem Basha, West Zone Commissioner, GHMC, stated that a police complaint had been lodged at the Kukatpally police station, and that the water valve had been shut off on Wednesday morning by Irrigation Department officials after they got to know about the incident. “We will check whether the house was built on the drain or not and then re-construct the house,” he said.
Mr. Basha added that a survey is also being conducted by officials from the Revenue Department to look into the issue of encroachment of the lake, and mentioned that fencing of the lake cannot be done as it is involved in a court case.
