ENVIRONMENT VS REALTY

On March 15, in the state assembly, Telangana chief minister K. Chandrashekar Rao announced his intention to repeal a 1996 government order— GO111—which creates a 10-km-wide buffer zone around the Himayatsagar and Osmansagar reservoirs outside Hyderabad.

- Amarnath K. Menon

The order severely limits construction and industry in the buffer zone to protect the city’s water supply and the local ecology, since these reservoirs are also a key element of local flood control systems. However, with the construction of the Mallannasagar reservoir, Hyderabad is no longer dependent on Himayatsagar and Osmansagar for water. Describing GO111 as therefore “redundant”, the CM told the state assembly that his government was awaiting the report of an expert committee on the matter, but that it was strongly disposed toward a repeal.

The announcement immediately kicked up a storm. Some accused the TRS (Telangana Rashtra Samithi) government of having ulterior motives, while others spoke of the ecological cost of the decision. Yet others pointed out that lax enforcement of GO111 had already allowed illegal construction to come up in the area, and that a repeal would effectively legalise these properties. Opposition parties also accused the TRS of seeking to profit off the decision—since land prices will appreciate sharply following a deregulation—with the Congress demanding a look into ownership patterns within the protected areas. “We demand an open inquiry of the land protected by the government order. How much has the land ownership changed, how many times, and who purchased these lands?” asks AICC (All India Congress Committee) spokesperson Dasoju Sravan.