Hyderabad: Members of the Sri Agrasen Charitable Trust and the Vysya community on Tuesday demanded that an inquiry be conducted into the demolitions in Agrasen Bhavan, by the Secunderabad Cantonment Board, which they said has caused them Rs 4 crore in losses.
They said only Agrasen Bhavan was targeted for alleged illegal constructions and other VVIP function halls located just small distance were not touched. The bungalow housing Agrasen Bhavan at Brig. Sayeed Road near Paradise is mainly used for charity programmes, social and cultural events and is let out for marriage.
“We are a peace loving community and pay our taxes. Officials guilty of having acted due to vested interests should be punished for carrying out demolitions,” trust chairman Kamal Narayan Agarwal and All Vysya Federation president Girish Kumar Sanghi said.
They told a media conference held on the lawns of Agrasen Bhavan that no prior notice was served. “We were not even given time to remove the fittings of air conditioners and other interior decorations. The Cantonment Board chief executive officer Sujatha Gupta and others came along with bulldozers on November 1 and carried out the demolitions,” Agarwal said.
He claimed that except for residential purpose, no other activities are allowed in the old grant bungalows in SCB limits. The trust members demand to know why the SCB has taken no action in the last 20 years if there was illegal construction in Agrasen Bhavan.
A protest rally has been planned for November 21 (Thursday). Girish Sanghi said they will not hesitate to call a Hyderabad bandh if the SCB does not fall in line.
The trust members said that Sri Agrasen Charitable Trust is a registered trust and the owner and possessor of the property bearing bungalow No. 149, along with an old building and three sheds measuring about 21,000 sq. feet, situated at Sapper Lines, which the trust purchased under various registered sale deeds dated 28-06-1996 from its owner Feroz Parakh with the support and contribution of many community people and the general public.
The title and possession of the trust property has been traced through registered documents since more than 100 years, they claim.
