Hyderabad: The proposal of the irrigation department to dig up the Tank Bund to install sluice gates is latest in a series of plans. Most of these plans are drafted without due consultation with each other.
The HMDA along with the GHMC, Hyderabad Road Development Corporation Limited and the Metro Water and Sewerage Board looks after the maintenance and developmental works in and around Hussain Sagar, while the water in the lake belongs to the irrigation department.
Whereas, the Pollution Control Board is sitting idle instead-of monitoring the quality of water by checking the sewerage treatment plants.
The municipal administration and urban development department want the developmental activities overseen by a single agency.
The irrigation department, which proposes to demolish a section of Hussain Sagar to construct 10 sluices, and the HRDCL, which maintains the Tank Bund road, wants a walkway and high-quality road.
This apart, the irrigation and electricity departments damage the roads and walkways around the lake — managed by the HMDA (from People’s Plaza to Sanjeevaiah Park), Tank Bund (HRDCL) and GHMC (Secretariat to NTR Marg) — at least twice every year to set up cranes and temporary substations during the Ganesh immersion and Dasara.
A senior Municipal Administration and Urban Development official said there was an immediate requirement to create an independent organisation to look after the development and beautification activities in and around Hussain Sagar.
He said the agency should be authorised to improve water quality, develop the environs and build roads and work with the MA&UD department. Funds could be allocated from the state Budget, he added.