HYDERABAD: The Supreme Court-empowered committee has directed the State Government to clear all the encroachments, irrespective of their area, on Kolleru lake before March 31.

The empowered committee has asked the Government to initiate stringent criminal proceedings against all those who have violated the directives issued by the Supreme Court in this regard.

The five-member apex court panel headed by P.V. Jayakrishnan conducted a public hearing at the Jubilee Hall here on Tuesday to elicit the opinions of different sections on Kolleru encroachments. Elected representatives, senior State Government officials, West Godavari Collector Luv Agarwal, environmentalists and residents of the Kolleru area participated in the meeting.

Briefing reporters later, committee members said the Government had been asked to restore the lake in its entirety by removing all the encroachments, including fish ponds on the lake bed. It had been asked to remove at the earliest the domestic power service connections in the Kolleru lake area. The officials concerned had been instructed to conduct meetings once a fortnight to review the progress of clearing Kolleru till the process was completed.

The committee also asked the Government to prepare a report on the quantum of the money earned by the encroachers so far and submit to it. Next public hearing on the issue will be held in New Delhi on March 8.

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