HYDERABAD: Ramping up its efforts to tackle lake encroachments, the Hyderabad Disaster Response and Assets Monitoring and Protection Agency (HYDRAA) on Sunday carried out a massive demolition drive in various parts of the city.
As part of the drive, HYDRAA demolished 11 duplex villas being built by Srinivasa Constructions on two acres in the FTL and buffer zone of Mallampet Cheruvu in Dundigal. Each of these buildings estimated to cost over ₹2 crore.
A criminal case was filed against the builder Vijaya Lakshmi. These villas had been under investigation for the past two years. It was learnt that the builder had obtained fake permissions from the panchayat and all of them were sealed two years ago.
Meanwhile, HYDRAA demolished over 30 huts and under-construction structures at Sunnam Cheruvu in Madhapur. The huts were built by land grabbers who got workers from Bihar and Odisha.
HYDRAA razed walls, rooms and sheds of a compound encroached upon by Katasani Rambhupal Reddy, a former MLA from Panyam, at Ameenpur lake in Sangareddy district. Reddy had built these structures for commercial activities. It was found that the structures built on 51 acres of land in Padmavathi Nagar, did not have any permission.
HYDRAA said no inhabited house or dwellings will be demolished and that only newly built buildings in FTL or buffer zone of water bodies will be razed. “People should refrain from buying properties that is within FTL or buffer zone of any lake. If buyers have any concerns, we urge them to visit HMDA lakes website. They can also contact the authority,” said AV Ranganath, HYDRAA commissioner.
However, some residents claimed that occupied houses have been demolished without any prior notice. They questioned how the builders were allowed to construct these illegal houses. It is the common people who will suffer the consequences of this administrative failure, they said.
