Khammam: The Donthigunta Lake in the heart of Aswaraopeta mandal in the district, which used to provide water for drinking and irrigation...
Khammam: The Donthigunta Lake in the heart of Aswaraopeta mandal in the district, which used to provide water for drinking and irrigation purposes to the people is gradually drying up. The lake, which used to be called the town lake, was modernized during the year 2003-04 by the then Panchayat President Kokkarapati Pullaiah who got Rs 1.5 crore from the government for constructing a park.
The workers undertaken to restore the tank were not carried fully and the proposal to build a park by the side of lake remained on paper only. However, some parts of the land surrounding the lake was left aside and borders set up and this gave an opportunity to some people to encroach on the lands.
After the formation of the Congress government in 2004, some of the followers of local leaders and important traders encroached on the land belonging to Donthagunta lake and constructed roads and apartment complexes, godowns tand shopping malls. They divided the plots among themselves. Although the people staged agitations against the encroachments on Donthagunta Lake, the previous Congress government remained as a mute spectator without taking any action.
However, with the present Telangana State Chief Minister K Chandrasekhara Rao deciding to take action against the encroachers of the government land near the lake, the issue of land grabbing came to light. In this connection, the Tahsilder identified 78 land grabbers and sent notices to them.
Similarly, notices were also sent to 15 poor people on the other side of the Bhadrachalam Road for illegally occupying half of the land near the Donthagunta Lake. They were told to immediately vacate the land. However, refuting the allegations, the people living in this area said that they were living here for a long time and even their forefathers also lived there.
They said that they had constructed pucca houses on the land sanctioned by the government and working as labourers. They said that the water flows through a canal adjacent to their houses and they did not obstruct its flow. They also said that they were paying property taxes, electricity and water charges and it was unfair to send notices to them asking them to vacate.
