Water mixed with sewage being released into Hyderabad’s Kapra lake to facilitate Ganesh immersion, say residents

File picture of Ganesh idols immersed in Kapra lake in Hyderabad.

Officials from the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) are allegedly releasing rainwater mixed with sewage into Kapra Lake to facilitate Ganesh idol immersion, thereby undoing a great deal of effort and investments towards sewage diversion.

Multiple residents of Sainikpuri and Kapra localities alleged that the municipal authorities are trying to ensure a sufficient amount of water in the lake by diverting rainwater mixed with untreated sewage into it. “The lake was nearly dry a couple of days ago, but now it is filled to the brim. It is not fresh water, as can be understood from the stench,” said Ramana Reddy, who resides 300 metres away from the lake.

A number of residents alleged that sewage mixed flows have been diverted into the lake to facilitate the immersion of Ganesh idols after the nine-day festivities are over, post the Ganesh Chaturthi on September 7.

Efforts down the drain

Kapra Lake was rejuvenated with the efforts of a group of volunteers from Sainikpuri and other areas, who frequently organise drives to clean up the lake.

Manognya Reddy, a volunteer from the Kapra Lake Revival Group, was witness to an inspection by GHMC officials, the area’s legislator and Ganesh Utsav Committee members a few days ago. Within no time after the inspection, the lake was filled up from one-fourth of its capacity to three-fourths, she said.

Kapra Lake receives its inflows from the surplus channel of the Nagireddy Kunta in Yapral, apart from the road run-off from Eshwaripuri colony and other localities nearby.

The natural inflow channel of the lake was wiped out by rampant construction activities, and owing to sewage flows, the lake had become a cesspool. Under the Strategic Nala Development Project, box drain works were taken up from Nagireddy Kunta a couple of years ago to revive the lake. “The plan was to build a sedimentation dam, after which the water would undergo remediation process before entering the lake,” Ms. Reddy explained.

While the box drain from Nagireddy Kunta is stuck midway due to issues of ‘right of way’ towards Yapral, construction of the sedimentation dam with a filter bed of rocks has been completed. Remediation process, however, is yet to begin.

“To fill the lake, now the officials have got a temporary channel dug from the half-done box drain, in order to divert the flows directly into the lake without treatment,” Ms. Reddy said. After the visit by GHMC officials, the filter bed, too, was removed, turning the lake into a sewage pool.

“Sainikpuri area has a good network of stormwater drains. All they had to do was to connect it to the lake for it to be filled with fresh rainwater. But they are instead diverting water mixed with sewage into the lake to please the utsav committee,” alleged Ms. Reddy alleged. GHMC officials could not be contacted for comments.