Vastness of greenery stretches as far as the eye can see behind a line of roadside vendors selling sweet lime, dragon fruit, coconut water, and other seasonal fruit on the stretch from Boduppal towards Uppal crossroads.
Only a short distance from a famous multiplex, the verdancy does not represent a welcome respite from the city’s hubbub and pollution.
On the contrary, it is symbolic of the callousness with which the urban areas treat their water bodies. The greenery covering the entire stretch of Nalla Cheruvu is water hyacinth, a deadly weed the existence of which indicates the miserable straits of any lake. The weed extends into the surplus weir of the lake too, stagnating the flow.
The water spread, hardly visible, is dark and menacing, living up to the name of the lake.
Nalla Cheruvu was listed among 20 lakes to be developed and beautified by GHMC five to six years ago.
As part of the beautification project, walking/cycling tracks were planned around the lake along with fencing, landscaping, lighting and others. In order to stop polluted water from entering the lake, a sewage diversion channel was to be laid.
Except hurriedly filling earth inside the FTL area of the lake in the name of walking track, the authorities have done precious little to improve the lake.
“In my childhood, this tank was so big that we would not be able to see the other end. Encroachments have reduced the extent subsequently, and in the name of walking track, GHMC authorities have further reduced the extent,” says V.Shyam Sundar, a resident of Boduppal.
Work towards the sewage diversion channel has started, but been abandoned owing to a legal case filed by a farmer upstream, officials from GHMC informed.
No attempts have been made to remove the weed meanwhile, which gives ample scope for mosquitoes to breed unhindered.
Nalla Cheruvu receives its inflows from Pedda Cheruvu of Nacharam upstream, which was the receptacle of sewage and industrial pollution earlier. Ironically, the water quality of Nalla Cheruvu is far worse than that of Pedda Cheruvu now.
As per the data of water quality recorded by the Telangana State Pollution Control Board in April this year, the Biochemical Oxygen Demand in the samples from Nalla Cheruvu was 14 milligrams per litre, which indicates severe pollution. Dissolved Oxygen at 0.3 milligrams per litre is too low for any aquatic life to survive. Total coliform group organisms are estimated at 920 per 100 millilitres of water.
