DC impact: GHMC to issue raze notices

Hyderabad: Following the report in these columns on Wednesday (Unsafe, still in use), the GHMC commissioner has ordered all zonal and circle town planning officers to issue notices to dilapidated buildings.

After three notices, if the owner does not comply, GHMC is authorised to demolished the building. GHMC commissioner B. Janardhan Reddy said, “Dilapidated buildings have been identified by the town planning department and notices u/s 459 of HMC Act have been served on owners / occupiers of the buildings to rectify the damage or demolish the same.”

He said the dilapidated buildings had been referred to the engineering department for opinion on their structural stability. On receipt of the opinion, notices will be served on the owners or occupiers of the building u/s 456 of HMC Act to vacate the structure for demolition.

In some cases, the opinion of JNTU will be taken on the structural safety of the building as a third party check, he said. In all, 1,819 dilapidated buildings have been identified under GHMC area, of which 1,248 have been demolished, rectified or  redeveloped; 176 are in litigation — mostly owner-tenant disputes.

This year, 152 buildings had been referred to the engineering department for opinion on structural stability and 32 buildings had been demolished. He instructed officials to focus on dilapidated and unsafe buildings.