Hyderabad: Despite a demolition drive conducted by the officials of the Hyderabad Disaster Response and Assets Monitoring and Protection Authority (HYDRAA) to reclaim the encroached area of the Bum-Rukn-ud-Dowla lake at Shastripuram Colony in Bahadurpura, residents said several multi-storey buildings that were built in violation of regulations were left out.
On August 10, officials from HYDRAA razed to ground several illegal structures, including 12 multi-storey buildings and 40 compound walls. However, locals said that numerous illegally-constructed properties remain intact on the encroached land, with families still residing in them.
“Right beside one of the buildings which was partially demolished by the officers, there is an apartment which has people living in it, and is very much in the lake-encroached FTL land,” said a resident. “Initially, it was a large lake. But encroachers used to remove the boundary rods and encroach the lands. Due to the actions of such people, the lake got reduced to a very small area,” he added.
Another woman, who shifted to Shastripuram a year ago, said “There are a lot of construction projects which have happened here. One of them allegedly belonged to an MLA, and it was right beside the lake. I never understood how they managed to construct buildings.”
Ghaffar Khan, a resident of one of the buildings that was demolished, claimed that the land was registered and claimed that one Chimanlal Suresh Kumar was the owner. “The construction was almost done, but they and demolished it. We have gone to the High Court regarding the demolition,” Khan said.
Several people pointed out that construction work is still underway at one of the properties that was demolished on August 10. The construction, which was partially finished when the demolition took place, is underway with labourers working on the property.
The residents are calling for more stringent enforcement of the law, and a thorough investigation into the ongoing encroachment. They demanded immediate action to ensure that the FTL land is fully restored to its intended purpose.
