HYDRAA Officials Retreat after Villagers Stop them from Removing Debris

Hyderabad: Hyderabad Disaster Response and Asset Protection Agency (HYDRAA) officials on Monday backed down after locals and public stopped them from removing debris in Ameenpur’s Patelguda village.

Officials went back to Ameenpur’s Patelguda demolition site near BSR colony on Monday to clear the debris. The agency planned on removing the debris from the area using hammer excavators and JCBs.

But they were quickly stopped by the locals. Several people, who had filed writ petitions in the High Court, argued with HYDRAA teams that a stay order is in place and they cannot remove the debris without the permission of the High Court.

The agency teams and officials left the spot without doing any work after they failed to convince the locals.

HYDRAA officials had on September 22 demolished several residential structures in Ameenpur's Patelguda village. Officials said that the structures were built on survey no. 12, which is government land, claiming to be built on survey no. 6, which is private property, and had thus demolished the structures.

Following the writ petitions filed by owners of the properties, the High Court gave orders to the respondents; the Telangana government, Sangareddy’s district collector and RDO, Ameenpur Sangareddy's tehsildar and Ameenpur municipal commissioner, that they must conduct a survey and identify whether it was government land in survey no. 12. Until then, the officials were directed to maintain status quo in all respects over the property.

Murali Krishna, a resident staying beside the razed buildings, said, "The teams came here to remove the debris. They came with bulldozers and other machines. We told them of a court stay order."

Another local, who requested anonymity, said “They said they wanted to remove the debris. But we showed them the court orders. They relented and said that they can’t do any work until the survey was done.”