Encroachment of lakes under TRS regime led to floods in Hyderabad: Congress

Congress leader Sravan Dasoju on Saturday said that after Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) came to power, lakes are being encroached by TRS leaders leading to floods in Hyderabad.

Speaking to Dasoju said, "Telangana Congress has been consistently bringing up an argument that, particularly after Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) came into power, lakes in Hyderabad are being encroached, which is being done by TRS leaders and its friends."

As per a Survey of India, there are around 300 lakes alone in Hyderabad city, Sravan said.

"During Telangana agitations, we demanded that all these lakes should be protected from encroachment, which the TRS government couldn't fulfill. Today, Hyderabad city has been flooded because of the encroachment happening in lakes," he added.

Showing GPS images of a Suram lake, he alleged that the lake has been encroached by a school.

"In Hyderabad, Suram lake has been encroached by a private school. The name of the school is 'Owaisi school of excellence and medical college'. In 2014, the land where the school currently stands was a lake and now in 2020, half of the lake has been encroached and in the same way many other lakes have also encroached across the city for various reasons," he told .

He further said that due to this encroachment, people of Hyderabad are facing a lot of problems as their houses are now lying underwater as they have been flooded with water.

"I question the Telangana Government, can they take action and remove the illegal construction over the encroached lakes in the city?" he asked.

Further speaking about the recent Central team's visit to Hyderabad to review the flood situation and the damage caused due to these floods, he said, "We all had great hope when we came to know that Government of India team is visiting Hyderabad and parts of Telangana to assess the extent of damage caused due to the recent rains which lead to floods in the Hyderabad and in other parts of Telangana. But unfortunately, the visit was just confined to just two days. Moreover, we are not sure who they met during their visit. They have been escorted by the Government officials of Telangana Government and by the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) officials."

He said that the Government of Telangana is the main culprit in this whole floods episode in Hyderabad.

"The floods happened because the government has not developed the drainage system and drains in the city and because the government did not take any action against the illegal encroachment happening in lakhs," he told .

He said that the Central Government team that came to review the flood situation did not get any clear cut picture of the situation.

( With inputs from ANI )