Hyderabad demolition drive: Illegal colonies still untouched

Hyderabad: In the last two days, the GHMC has managed to pull down single rooms, slabs, compound walls and a few commercial structures, but there are colonies like Nadeem Colony, Nizam Colony and many others that are encroaching on nala and lake lands that will be left untouched.

A GHMC source said, “Colonies will not be touched, but the edge of the nalas touching the colonies will be widened and maintained. So far the zonal heads have not listed these colonies in the demolition list. The GHMC has not yet decided to demolish huge structures that are encroaching.”

Meanwhile even after four days without any rain, parts of some colonies were inundated. At Nadeem Colony, about 500 to 600 families are living in about 250 houses that are affected by the rains.

The area occupied by the houses is part of the tank foreshore, which should not have been used for dwelling houses or any other structures. This might have happened because the boundaries of the tank were not clearly demarcated and there was no regular monitoring by the GHMC and the Revenue department.

There is no approved layout from HUDA for the entire area, nor is there permission from the GHMC. Meanwhile, speculation is rife whether the demolition drive will be sustained or will it be dropped midway like the one on illegal constructions.

Soon after the TRS government came into power, a massive demolition drive was launched at Ayyappa Society, Hafizpet, Gurukul. However, the drive soon lost steam.

But going by the three-hour conference call of the Chief Minster with the GHMC commissioner  on Monday night, the CM wants to be ahead of Bengaluru in terms of demolition. BMC had carried out 200 demolitions in two months, Mr Chandrasekhar Rao, meanwhile wants 300 on a single day.

Ninety demolitions were carried on Tuesday, day two of the drive. Meanwhile Captain J. Rama Rao said, “It is a political gimmick that will run for a few days. Why have they been sitting on the Kirloskar Committee report?”

“Demolition is the need of the hour, the department knows that if these encroachments are not removed, it will damage the city in future. There is no illegal structure that has not been built without the knowledge of GHMC. Since the recent floods have raised the voices of many, these drives are only to stop bad mouthing about the government,” he added.

Day 2: big builders identified
On Tuesday, the second day of GHMC’s demolition drive, a portion of Modi Construction’s venture, Mayflower Grande, at Cherlapally was demolished as it had obstructed a nala.

Another violator identified was the DNR Function Hall, which was illegally built on government land and a nala at Yapral of Alwal Circle. Over 23 structures abutting nalas were pulled down, 36 illegal structures demolished, and two removed from city lakes.

The GHMC has also identified 3,639 vacant and unallocated JNNURM / RAY houses for rehabilitation of poor people affected by removing of encroachments on nalas and lakes. Houses have been allotted at  Nandanavanam - Karmanghat (178 houses), Gajularamaram.