Lakes! No, call them dustbins

■ They are home to garbage after civic body takes up restoration work

City lakes have turned into dumping sites after the civic body has taken up restoration and lake development activities. Plastic is being dumped into the water bodies. Heaps of garbage have piled up in Erlacheruvu and Gurnadamcheruvu.

The authorities are letting sewage enter the Trimulgherry lake and don’t seem to be attending to the hyacinth and mosquito menace in Pragathinagar lake.

The GHMC is yet to commence the restoration work at Patelcheruvu and 16 lakes out of 20 lakes for which contracts have been finalised and

■ GHMC is letting sewage enter the Trimulgherry lake and don’t seem to be attending to the hyacinth and mosquito menace in Pragathinagar lake. Staffhit civic body will address the problems after polls.

`279 crore sanctioned.

Residents of Madinaguda and Manjeera Pipeline Road claim that although the civic body has spent `99.99 lakh to construct a walking track and develop Erlacheruvu, the lake has become a garbage dumping spot due to lack of maintenance.

“We have lodged several complaints with the civic body but to no avail,” said

Mr K. Nishan Reddy of Madinaguda. Mr Lingaiah said, “We noticed a fish that was caught in a plastic cover while cleaning the lake on Sunday. Despite several reminders, none of the authorities have attended to our concerns to date.” Similar issues have been reported at Gurnadam lake.

Mr B. Sandeep Kumar of Aurobindo Colony, Miyapur, said the Pragathinagar lake had become a mosquito breeding site after conducting the rejuvenation programme.

“Although the civic authorities clean up once in three months, the nuisance returns within a week,” he said. Residents living in the vicinity of Trimulgherry claim that despite constructing sewerage treatment plants, the authorities have been letting untreated water into the lake.

The civic body has decided to take up the beautification and development works at Ambercheruvu, Boincheruvu, Malkacheruvu, Peddacheruvu (Chinnacheruvu), Peddacheruvu, Charlapally Tank, Mukkudicheruvu, Ooracheruvu, Anthagani Kunta, Peddacheruvu, Maddela Kunta, Mohinicheruvu, Nallacheruvu, Fox Sagar, Surramcheruvu, Raisamudramcheruvu, Large Tank and the Mir Alam Tank. Barring Mir Alam Tank, work is yet to begin in the other lakes.

A senior GHMC official on condition of anonymity explained that the inconvenience was caused due to a staff crunch and the series of elections that have been on since September last year. The official said that maintenance-related grievances will be addressed with immediate effect and major development works will be taken up post polls.