Residents and environmentalists in Hyderabad are urging HYDRA (Hyderabad Urban Development Authority) to address encroachments around Mir Alam Tank. The historic lake, crucial for urban ecology, faces pollution and illegal construction, threatening its biodiversity and water quality. Activists demand immediate intervention to restore and preserve this vital water body.
Under threat is also a bungalow that was built in 1889 by Mir Turab Ali Khan, the first Salar Jung. The bungalow was as a guest house.
With the newly formed HYDRA agency taking up demolition of illegal structures at Bam Ruk-ud-Daula, lake, citizens in the Old City are now expecting a similar operation by the anti-encroachment agency to clear illegal buildings which have eaten up half of the historic Mir Alam Tank.
According to reports, the Mir Alam Tank, located adjacent to the Nehru Zoological Park, has almost been reduced to half of its size from 18.8 lakh square metres in 1967 to 10.5 lakh sq.m in 2021. The construction of the tank was completed in 1806 and it has 21 semi-circular masonry dams. Tt was the primary source of drinking water for Hyderabad before the Osman Sagar and Himayat Sagar reservoirs were built by the last Nizam of Hyderabad between 1913-25.
The tank is named after Mir Alam, a former Prime Minister of the Hyderabad state (1853-83). Over a period of time, colonies have come up in the full tank level (FTL) and buffer zone of the reservoir abutting the Mir Alam Eidgah. The land in the area has been sold by sharks at a price of Rs. 40,000 to Rs. 50,000 a square yard and now the resale value is much higher with some pegging it at Rs. 70,000 to 80,000 a square yard.
At least two new colonies have come up over a period of time in the FTL of Mir Alam Tank on the route leading to Mir Alam Eidgah from the road opposite the Mir Alam water filter. Scores of trucks carrying debris have dumped mud into the lake over the years during nights and eventually the land was sold for housing promoting its ‘lake view plots’.
The Irrigation Department, GHMC, HMDA and other departments/ agencies concerned kept their eyes shut all these years. Now with the Hyderabad Disaster Response and Assets Monitoring and Protection (HYDRA) checking the encroachments of lakes, there is a hope among environmental activists of improvement in the situation.
Through social media, people in the Old City of Hyderabad are complaining to officials about the need to clear encroachments at Mir Alam Tank and protect the centuries old reservoir. Due to the encroachments for the lake from all sides including the Rajendranagar Dairy Farm side there is also usually flooding in the Nehru Zoological Park and the threat is only increasing.
A few years ago, a foundation stone of the lake was damaged. It had a message, “This bank was constructed by Meer Allum Prime Minister of his HSS the Soubahdar under the direction of SH Russell ESOP of Corps of Engineers of the Madras Establishment. It was begun on 1804 AD and completed on 1806 AD.”
Under threat is also a bungalow that was built in 1889 by Mir Turab Ali Khan, the first Salar Jung. The bungalow was as a guest house. #hydkhabar
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