GO 111 Repeal Put on Hold by Revanth

Hyderabad: After putting the Airport Metro corridor on the back burner, Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy is said to have decided to keep on hold the repeal of the contentious GO 111 which was meant to prevent pollution in a 10-km zone around the Osmansagar and Himayatsagar by restricting growth.

The K. Chandrasekhar Rao-led government had repealed the GO last year but did not give effect to its replacement, Government Order 63, which talked of framing guidelines for allowing change of land use from conservation zone to residential and commercial or multipurpose and subsequently permit structures.

Questioning the rationale behind taking up the Metro Rail corridor between Raidurg and the Shamshabad airport along the Outer Ring Road at a review meeting recently, the Chief Minister had categorically said it would be a wasteful expenditure since a major portion of the area was covered by GO 111, where growth is restricted. He reiterated the same during an informal conversation with mediapersons on Thursday.

Chandrasekhar Rao had rushed with the announcement on the GO 11 in the run-up to the elections, apparently to create a feel-good image of real estate in Hyderabad and win over the electorate in villages falling under GO 111. To escape litigation by environmentalists, the BRS government had said that it would take all measures to prevent pollution of the lakes and that it would prepare a master plan before permitting any activity.

“After the announcement by Chandrashekar Rao on the repeal of GO 111 there was no progress at all. We gave an undertaking to the High Court that no permission will be given till the guidelines are framed and zonal planning is taken up,” a senior municipal administration and urban development official told this correspondent.

The previous government, however, cleared some applications for change of land use in specific land parcels in Vattinagulapalli following the High Court decision to release some survey numbers from the restricted zone. The GO 111 did not mention any survey number but only referred to villages in the restricted development zone.

However, the court, citing a report by Environment Protection, Training and Research Institute (EPTRI), ordered deletion of the select survey numbers from the restricted zone.