Hyderabad: The Enforcement, Vigilance and Disaster management (EV&DM) wing of GHMC saved 5,060 square yards of government land in Mithilanagar, Road No. 12, Banjara Hills. The land was meant for a park but had been encroached by neighbours and slum residents.
Some people from the colony, whose plots are located adjacent to the land parcel, had built walls on a portion of the land for encroaching it, while another group of individuals from the Syednagar slum located adjacent to the plot had built a concrete structure in a portion of land measuring 230 square yards.
Near the site’s compound wall that shares a border with Syednagar, portions of some houses had come up. The government land, which caught the fancy of the encroachers, is located on an uneven terrain and the access to it is difficult, according to residents of Mithilanagar.
The 5,060-sq. yd. of land was marked as an open space in the Mithilanagar layout and as per norms that it should have either been developed as a park or lung space. The GHMC is the custodian of such lands in every layout located within its jurisdiction.
Incidentally, EV&DM had demolished encroachments in the same land in 2020 but they resurfaced. Enquiries showed that the state government did not accept the proposal to hand over the land to private individuals against monetary compensation. Following this, those claiming it had also approached the court and tried to build walls.
The EV&DM has approached the biodiversity wing of the civic body and a park will shortly be developed on the 5,060-sq.yd. land parcel. Meanwhile, in another incident, EV&DM officials saved another 320 sq.yd. in Jafarnagar Colony, Road No. 10, Banjara Hills. Presently works related to the site’s fencing are underway.
