Are you a nature lover but had to helplessly witness a lake getting
encroached? If yes, and if you are willing to help the local authorities
avert such a thing from happening again, then here’s your chance.

‘Adopt
A Lake’ is a new initiative conceived by the Hyderabad Metropolitan
Development Authority (HMDA) to save the  lakes with public
participation.

“We had a draft memorandum of understanding (MOU),
which was approved by the seventh Lake Protection Committee (LPC)
whereby we agreed to invite expressions of interest (EOI) from willing
stakeholders in this regard to have discussions on the MOU, and finalise
it,” said Neerabh Kumar Prasad, HMDA metropolitan commissioner, at a
press conference here on Wednesday.

At present 501 lakes have been
identified in the erstwhile HUDA area, 176 of which  now fall in the
Greater Hyderabad limits and the remaining in the metropolitan area.
Further, in the entire HMDA area, 2,845 lakes have been identified apart
from those  in the  aforementioned areas.

“This is an opportunity
to all the concerned citizens to help us protect the lakes. This is a
responsibility. The draft is for three years for now,” said Prasad.
However, under this scheme, the maintenance expenditure will have to be
borne by the interested person himself or herself. “We will help them
mark the lakes up to its full tank level (FTL) boundaries and buffer
zones, including its inlets and outlets, by constant vigil.”

Prasad
explained that interested persons would have to assist the officials of
HMDA, GHMC, irrigation and revenue departments in marking the FTL
levels, buffer zones, inlet and outlet levels. But big water bodies like
the Hussainsagar, Himayatsagar and Osmansagar are not up for adoption
under this scheme.

“We decided to initiate this as several people
from resident welfare associations, NGOs and corporate sector have
expressed interest in conservation of lakes.” 

He warned that the
scheme was simply meant for taking care of the lakes and not for their
commercial exploitation. “No water should be drawn from the lakes and
any construction of any sort is also prohibited. And the adopter cannot
restrict access to anyone nor can lease the lake. It is merely a public
service,” said the metropolitan commissioner. Only acknowledgment will
be in the form of a small board which will be put up, stating that the
person or organisation is maintaining it.

“We all know about the
current scenario and the problems concerning the lakes. As of now, we
are trying to prevent further encroachments and, under the scheme, we
will also take up identification of all the encroachments of the lakes,”
Prasad ascertained.

Persons interested in adopting lakes can
apply online from Thursday on the HMDA website. The last date for
sending in applications is May 31.  “After the expressions of interest
(EOI) are submitted, we will discuss with them the nitty-gritty,
including the financial aspects. Once a consensus is reached, we will
sign the MOU,” Prasad said, adding that the current statistics of the
lakes were on the satellite images, and topography maps provided by the
Survey of India.