Himayat Sagar is an artificial lake about 20 kilometres (12 mi) from Hyderabad in the Ranga Reddy district of Telangana, India. It lies parallel to a larger artificial lake called Osman Sagar. The storage capacity of the reservoir is 2.9 tmc ft.[1]
History
The construction of reservoirs on the Esi, a tributary of the Musi River, was completed in 1927, with the intention of providing a drinking water source for Hyderabad and protecting the city from floods, which Hyderabad suffered in 1908. It was built during the reign of the last Nizam of Hyderabad, Nizam VII and is named after his eldest son Himayat Ali Khan.[2]
The Himayat Sagar dam and Osman Sagarreservoirs provided continuous water supply to the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad until recently. Due to population growth, they are not sufficient to meet the cities' water supply-demand.
The engineer at the time of construction was late Khaja Mohiuddin, son of Mohammed Hussein, Madri.[citation needed]
Himayat Sagar Lake
In 2022, the descendant of the royal family of the Nizam, Himayat Ali Mirza, has recently joined the movement to save Osman Sagar and Himayat Sagar" as he believes that these reservoirs are iconic landmarks of Hyderabad and still act as a lifeline for lakhs of people of the old city. He also urged the then-CM of Telangana to withdraw the repeal of GO 111.[3][4][5]
If GO 111 is repealed, Himayat feared that many parts of the city might be affected by floods even with small summer rains. Also, it would increase the illegal construction activities near the lake, ultimately increasing the threat of flooding.[6][7]
