Activists question the handover of lakes to realtors
The Hindu
‘Government agencies hand in glove with real estate developers to compromise lake protection’
Activists and civil society representatives severely castigated the move by the State government to hand over the responsibility of lake protection to real estate developers.
The government has announced its policy through a statement on Tuesday, which said responsibility for protection of the water bodies will be part of the conditions for issuing layout/building permission. Activist and founder of Save Our Urban Lakes Lubna Sarwat questioned the very foundation of the decision and called it illegal.
“We already have the WALTA Act, 2002, which the Telangana government had adopted in its entirety in 2016. According to the Act, there are State level, district level and mandal level authorities who are entrusted with the responsibility of protection of water bodies. Heads and functionaries from all the State government departments concerned, ministers, public representatives and more importantly civil society representatives are part of these authorities which enjoy judicial powers to stop encroachment and pollution of lakes,” Ms. Sarwat said.