The mystery of the missing sewage treatment plant tells the story of the lake in Krishnakanth Park
The lake at Krishnakath Park in Yousufguda has come full circle over the past two decades before the Hyderabad Disaster Response and Asset Development Agency (HYDRAA) recently announced plans to develop and rehabilitate the lake.
HYDRAA Commissioner AV Ranganath has a special interest in expanding the lake to four times its existing size to retain the rainwater that floods Ameerpet and surrounding localities downstream every time it rains.
Currently, the water area is limited to approximately three acres and divided into three separate ponds with connecting canals. Now the water area is to be increased to 12 acres.
A 2017 satellite image showing the STP.
Satellite image from 2026, missing STP.
Work to cut down and relocate trees from the park is already underway, with 34 trees marked for felling and 156 for relocation.
The initiative will greatly reduce the area of the 22-acre park, drowning its lawns, trees, gazebos and other facilities originally established 22 years ago. The project is based on the argument that the entire park stands on what was originally a lake.
In fact, the lake is a textbook example of governments wasting public money without regard for sustainability or accountability. A simple search for a sewage treatment plant that has disappeared over the years reveals the whole story.
The wastewater treatment plant (WTP) was first established in 2003-04 with the intention of filling three ponds built as part of the development of the park. The park was launched in 2004 by the then Chief Minister of the common state of Andhra Pradesh N. Chandrababu Naidu.
“There was no lake. It was a colossal dump in front of the park. We set about the difficult task of clearing all the rubbish to build a beautiful park there. We dug very deep and built strong gazebos of granite, despite objections that the foundations would be compromised by the huge amount of rubble underneath.” Urban Forestry, Hyderabad Municipal Corporation.
Ramaraju, a senior citizen of Kalyan Nagar, remembers a huge 22-acre lake at the site that actually provided water for the crops.
“There was this heavy cascade of water flowing from the lake through Madhura Nagar and I remember seeing paddy fields on both sides in the 1980s. Eventually, with the development of the city, sewage and industrial waste started flowing into the lake and later it turned into a garbage dump,” recalled Mr. Ramaraju.
G. Satyanarayana, another resident who served as the president of the Federation of Colony Welfare Associations, recalled the story that after the garbage heap was cleared, several dead bodies of animals dumped there over the years were discovered.
“I was told that the workers collapsed and could not bear the stench. Even after the park was laid, we fought against the dump,” said Mr. Satyanarayana. The landfill later became the garbage collection center of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation.
According to details shared by engineering officials who worked on the park, an STP with a treatment capacity of 0.6 million liters per day (MLD), complete with filtration, aeration and sedimentation facilities, has been constructed at the south-west corner of the park. A pipeline for treated water was laid from the VTP to the lake. Another pipe brought in fresh rainwater from the northeast side, and a 12-foot storm drain running through the park overflowed into the lake.
Sewage is now flowing through the drain, although it is not entering the lake. In fact, the lake only filled seasonally over two decades. It remained as dry as it should have been in the summer and filled up after the monsoon, indicating that the sewage had successfully penetrated it.
Sharing the ₹7.5 crore development plan for the lake, HYDRAA chief AVRanganath informed that a brand new STP with 1-2 MLD sewage treatment capacity will be constructed inside the park to bring treated water to the expanded lake. He has no idea about the previous STP or the connection of the storm water to the lake.
VTP, now forgotten, remained defunct for most of its existence due to lack of maintenance. By 2021, it was still on the cards, as confirmed by a report from the Central Pollution Control Board, which listed it as “non-operational”. There was no information from GHMC about decommissioning of VTP.
The STP location now falls under the waste transfer station managed by Hyderabad Integrated Municipal Solid Waste Limited (HIMSW), a special purpose vehicle marketed by Renvion – a newly rebranded version of Ramka Enviro Engineers Limited. The entrance to the building is strictly guarded.
Analysis of Google Earth satellite imagery shows that the STP was filled in as of May 2021 and transfer station structures were built on top of it. The composite wall separating the transfer station from the VTP was torn down. Incidentally, 2021 was also the year the transfer station was handed over to HIMSW.
When asked about the STP, Renvion, through its Public Relations agency, said the waste collection center was handed over to HIMSW in 2021, which has built a modern transfer station on the GHMC premises. All necessary approvals for the improvements have been reviewed and approved by GHMC and EPTRI. Renvion categorically denied the existence of any STP at the transfer station. A query to GHMC Commissioner RV Karnan remained unanswered.
Published – 10 Nov 2026 08:58 IST