Save Our Urban Lakes (Soul), a voluntary organisation, has accused the Andhra Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation (APTDC) of permitting the installation of a huge Ganesha idol at Durgam Cheruvu in violation of rules.

To facilitate the installation of the idol, which is supported by an over 70-feet iron structure, water is being pumped out from the water body for the last three weeks, Soul charged. “This is illegal, and no such activity is permitted to be carried out within the full tank level (FTL) water spread area of any lake and also within its buffer zone that extends to 30 metres all around the boundary in the case of Durgam Cheruvu,” Jasveen Jairath and Chakri of the Soul team said in a statement.

The APTDC has no mandatory permission from the Irrigation Department to facilitate the installation of the idol in the water body. Persistent complaints to the Madhapur police finally yielded results on Monday, when police visited the site along with Soul team members and suspended the pumping out of water, besides instructing the contractor to produce a copy of the written permission, claimed Jairath.