Missing lake: Satellite images show how Rangareddy's Guttala Begumpet lake turned into land

Hyderabad: Satellite images of Guttala Begumpet cheruvu in Serilingampally mandal in Guttala Begumpet village of Rangareddy district show how the lake has been turned into land over the last few years. Women's India Chamber of Commerce and Industry (WICCI) Telangana president Lubna Sarwath shared the satellite images of the lake in an email to the Rangareddy district collector.

The satellite images of the lake were obtained from the National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC), Google Earth, and the Telangana government's land records portal Dharani.

According to the NRSC satellite image, survey numbers 7, 8, 9, 32, and 33 indicate the Guttala Begumpet lake. The NRSC images for 2012-16, 2017, and 2018 show how the lake has been encroached upon and how its area has reduced over the years. The images also show how a road has divided the lake into two.

2012-16

In the Dharani portal, survey no 7 (of 11.19 acres), 8 (of 11.21 acres), and 9 in Guttala Begumpet village have been named houses or house sites.

Comparing the Google Earth images from 2016, 2017, 2021, and 2022, it is evident how the lake has been encroached upon and buildings have come up even inside the Full Tank Level of the lake. From 2016 to 2022, the green-colored area indicating the water body has turned into a brown area indicating land. In the latest satellite image from 2022, there is no lake to be seen.

2014, 2016, 2017, 2021

The inflow to the Guttala Begumpet lake is from the upstream of Sunnam cheruvu located on the northeast side and the outflow is to the downstream of the Durgan Cheruvu. Looking at the satellite images, Lubna pointed out that the inflow channel of the lake has also been destroyed.

Immediate need to restore lake

Lubna said the district administration should immediately take steps to restore the lake. "The government has to take timely action. Measures to restore the lake should be taken in the next one week so that when the rains come back, we are able to store the rainwater. Also, it would help prevent flooding of nearby areas and urban floods," she said.

Further, she said restoring the lake would make the people living nearby self-sufficient in water and provide easy access to people living in the vicinity who bring water from places "100 kms away." She added, "The road can be converted into a bridge but the lake has to be fully restored."