About the Lake

Raviryala Cheruvu/lake located in Raviryala village is situated approximately 40 kms from the centre of Hyderabad in Maheshwaram Mandal of Ranga Reddy district. The Lake once served as a vital source of irrigation for 3000 acres of fertile agricultural land belonging to 4 villages while meeting additional water needs of 10 villages in the region. Once a lifeline for a number of villages, the Raviryala cheruvu has dried up almost completely in the last 8-10 years.

Heavy siltation due to illegal sand mining, infestation by weeds has reduced the water spread. Further, a large number of trees have been cut for constructing the airport, SEZs and outer ring road which have disrupted the feeder channels to the lakes eventually rendering it dry. The wearing out of the top soil of the lake due to sand mining has prevented retention of ground water, and led to the drying of the lake. Situation has worsened due to scanty rainfall over the last decade (and which has progressively been decreasing year after year). There has been no major intervention by the government in terms of reviving the lake, the minor irrigation department has allocated around 1.4 crores for the revival of the lake and the proposal for revival is in the process.

Present Status

• Rapid urbanisation in the water shed including infrastructural development construction of Outer ring road, International Airport, SEZs (Fab city and Hardware Park) has disrupted the feeder channels bringing water into the lake.
• Rampant illegal sand mining from the lake bed for construction activities has adversely affected the hydro- geologic conditions of the soil adversely affecting the water table.
• Extensive deforestation during the construction of Hardware Park
• The lake bed is gradually being used as a ground for dumping municipal solid waste of the village.
• The dependency on bore wells, by farmers and the washer man community has increased which often go dry in the summers and adversely affects their livelihood.
• There are several bore wells on the lake bed especially on the shikham lands which was given to the farmers for agricultural purpose.

This lake exhibits a typical dried out water body bearing the brunt of unplanned urbanisation and erratic weather patterns. The impact of this is already being felt by the villagers who have experienced an unusual rise in the temperature in the last decade. Uneven rainfall pattern, and over extraction of groundwater for irrigation has aggravate the crisis of the community whose livelihoods were dependant on the lake.