Flats come up on disputed lands in Hyderabad

Hyderabad: Hundreds of illegal constructions have come up or are underway on the disputed land of Gurukul Trust and Ayyappa Society in Madhapur.

The structures are coming up in spite of the GHMC demolishing certain constructions in the past.

“There are clear orders from the High Court that no new construction should be allowed on the Gurukul Trust land where the Ayyappa Society has come up,” said Kasireddy Bhaskar Reddy, a resident of Madhapur. “The constructions that have come up are not single rooms but two-three storied buildings which cannot come up overnight and take at least a year,” Mr Reddy added.

Even as Corporation officials said that they had written to the Central Power Distribution Company Ltd., and the Water Board not to provide connections to these illegal constructions, the property owners have managed to get the connections.

By turning a blind eye to these illegal constructions, the Corporation is not only allowing blatant violation of rules but is also losing crores of rupees towards building fees, development charges and other taxes.

“Not even a single structure has been demolished by Town Planning officials in the last six months. In addition to several new constructions, the structures that were stalled earlier have been completed and have even got electricity and water lines,” said another resident,  P. Srinivas.

A GHMC official said that letters had been sent to the CPDCL and  Water Board authorities to stop issuing connections to  Ayyappa Society, immediately after razing the structures.
Incidentally, the Corporation had constituted an exclusive enforcement wing to monitor unauthorised structures on Ayyappa Society land immediately after the demolitions – with a city planner and an assistant city planner on board.

However, the enforcement wing idea has remained on paper due to lack of manpower, equipment and vehicles.

S. Aleem Basha, Zonal Commissioner (West Zone), admitted that new constructions had come up on Ayyappa Society land and many structures that were stalled earlier have been completed. “Due to election arrangement works, we had lost focus; as a result, some unauthorised new constructions have come up and the stalled structures were also found completed,” said the Mr Basha.

When asked about the special team constituted to monitor the unauthorised constructions, the Mr Basha said, “Though there were proposals, it has not been formed yet.”