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Telangana HC seal on Musi river rejuvenation project, squatters to face action | Hyderabad News


Telangana HC seal on Musi river rejuvenation project, squatters to face action

HYDERABAD: Stating that the state govt can derive power from Nizam-era Hyderabad State’s Irrigation Act, the Telangana Irrigation Act and the Walta Act, 2002, to execute its Mission Musi project and also the creation of Hyderabad Disaster Response and Asset Monitoring and Protection Agency (HYDRAA) to protect water bodies and other public assets, Justice CV Bhaskar Reddy of the Telangana high court has directed the state and law enforcing authorities to initiate suitable criminal action against encroachers and land grabbers destroying rivers and water bodies.

Decks cleared for rejuvenation

The judge issued a set of directions while disposing of a batch of writ petitions that challenged the action of the authorities in trying to evict them from the Musi riverbed.
The judge, while asking the state to conduct a survey of encroachments all along the Musi river course and to rehabilitate the poor encroachers, however, directed the state to take immediate steps for eviction of illegal and unauthorized occupants in the full tank level (FTL), riverbed and buffer zone, and also to ensure that no sewage contaminates the Musi.
The petitioners questioned the legal validity of HYDRAA and also the Musi rejuvenation project.
‘No legal sanctity to lakebed allotments’
Rejecting the contentions of the petitioners, the judge said: “The state, by keeping in mind, the object enunciated under the provisions of the Telangana Land Revenue Act, 1317 Fasli, and the Telangana Irrigation Act, 1357 Fasli, and for implementation of various guidelines issued by the Supreme Court and and also this court by way of judicial pronouncements for protecting the lakes/rivers/water bodies, has issued GO Ms. No.99 (dated July 19, 2024) establishing HYDRAA for TCUR (Telangana core urban region) for the purpose of disaster management, asset protection and other functions. The functions entrusted to HYDRAA were analogous to the provisions of the Telangana Irrigation Act.”
Rejecting the argument that the state cannot constitute HYDRAA, Justice Bhaskar Reddy said: “In the instant case, the state is conferred with the power under Section 4 of the Telangana Irrigation Act to appoint any officer or depute any officer to discharge the functions as irrigation officer under the provisions of the Act and therefore, by no stretch of imagination, it can be said that the state has no power to constitute HYDRAA. The rivers and tanks being the community property, must be held and managed by the state authorities as trustees for the benefit of the community at large. It is their duty to protect rivers, tanks or lakes. Any allotment of lakebed as house sites or other purposes, there will be no legal sanctity to such allotments.””If you find any shikam land or patta land with encroachers, acquire it and compensate the holders of such land,” the judge directed the state.





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