About 300 lakes in the capital of the Indian state of Telangana, Hyderabad, are officially untraceable, a media report has stated.
According to The Times of India daily report, the state's irrigation department has been unable to locate the lakes.
"There are 3,532 lakes in seven districts under Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA), city civic body jurisdiction. However, about 300 lakes are non-existent," the report stated.
As per the lakes' protection committee, formed by the state government, the main reason these lakes have been found "missing" is that hundreds of new colonies have been come up around them in the last two decades.
"We have the data on all the lakes. Physical verification, especially with respect to their extent, is being taken up," Arvind Kumar, HMDA Metropolitan Commissioner and Special Chief Secretary stated.
A study titled 'Documenting disappearing water bodies of Hyderabad City' published in 2017 had revealed that the combined water spread under the basins of three lakes in Hyderabad city, which served as major watersheds for the city and surrounding areas, declined by 40 percent between 1978 and 2013.
It also revealed that a total of 27 lakes and ponds under Himayat Sagar, Umda Sagar and Miralam Tank systems in the city have totally disappeared during this period.