Hyderabad’s pride, the Hussain Sagar, one of the biggest man-made lake, is slowly losing its glory. With its placid waters getting polluted due to domestic sewerage and industrial waste being dumped in, citizens and tourists cringe at the stench from the lake. A walk on the otherwise beautiful necklace road on the banks of the lake is not possible without covering your nose these days. On the other hand, water hyacinth and other weeds are slowly taking over the lake.
In spite of well-maintained parks and gardens on the necklace road, the lake’s banks are an ugly site because of numerous `nallas’ spewing affluents and sewerage. The stagnant water on the banks has turned murky and is littered with plastic bags, water bottles and paper waste thrown in by careless tourists or citizens. A number of restaurants and hotels on the lake’s periphery dump solid waste in the lake.
The Hussain Sagar lake was created on the Musi river in 1562 by Hazrat Hussain Shah during the reign of Ibrahim Quli Qutub Shah. A `bund’which is now known as the Tank Bund was erected to check the Musi river creating this artificial reservoir to meet the water requirements of Hyderabad at that time. The original lake was spread across 24 sq kms. Now it has shrunk to less than half its original size.
Citizens groups, environmentalists and conservationists are campaigning vociferously to protect the lake and prevent further degradation.
That state government is making efforts to stem the rot and revive the lake but an ambitious project to restore it to its former glory is stuck due to mismanagement and bureaucratic red-rape as too many agencies are involved.
Meanwhile, the ugly sights and stench is starting to show as the number of citizens using the Necklace Road for daily walks and evening visitors has gone down drastically.
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