Oteru tank in Tirupati under the scanner for land grab attempt

Oteru, which was recognised as a tank way back during the British regime in the year 1886 and recorded by the Chandragiri Sub-Collector in 1925, is once again in the eye of a storm for the overt attempts allegedly being made to encroach the water body.

Spread over 36.34 acres in survey numbers 370, 376 and 377 of Avilala village in Tirupati rural mandal, the tank used to meet the needs of the villages around Tirupati.

“Attempts were made to breach the bund and fill earth in the tank bed in an apparent bid to convert it into residential plots as it is situated right next to the national highway”, rued Communist Party of India (CPI) Tirupati District Secretary P. Murali.

Party leaders led by Mr. Murali staged a demonstration at the Revenue Divisional Officer’s (RDO) office here on Thursday demanding action against those attempting to encroach upon the tank, which he said was worth ₹1080 crore.

“The land was mentioned in revenue records from 1925 to 2014 as a tank, but attempts started later to tamper with the revenue records in a bid to encroach upon its bed”, he charged.

In fact, the State’s Department of Water Resources had raised an objection in 2020 against the dumping of earth on the foreshore of the Oteru tank and even requested the Panchayat Secretary of Oteru Gram Panchayat to initiate action against the persons responsible for levelling the water spread area of the tank.

The engineering officials had not only requested the Panchayat to remove the dumped earth to ensure no building activity is carried out in the buffer zone, but also appealed to the Tahsildar of Tirupati Rural mandal to take action against those trying to change the morphology of the tank.

Responding to the agitation, Collector S. Venkateswar has announced to initiate steps to protect the tank and also get the dumped earth removed from the tank bed.