HYDERABAD: Hyderabad Disaster Response and Asset Protection Agency (HYDRAA) commissioner AV Ranganath has said the agency is not demolishing structures permitted by GHMC, HMDA or any civic body. He said they demolished structures which were unauthorised, permissions cancelled and unoccupied. He clarified that HYDRAA is not silent on rich and influential people, but doing some groundwork, which takes some time.
“Some people are being called HYDRAA victims, who are impacted by the demolition, but the real victims are crores of people living in the city. The agency is working to provide the right to live and also the right to provide a clean environment as per the Supreme Court orders. There are some news reports that HYDRAA demolished buildings which have permissions. But it is totally false. We are not touching habitations and colonies that have already come up as per the directions of chief minister Revanth Reddy,” the commissioner told the media on Saturday. He participated in a press conference with municipal administration principal secretary Dana Kishore at the secretariat.
At Kistareddypet, Ameenpur and other areas, the govt cancelled permissions as the panchayat secretary gave permission with old dates. The secretary was suspended. Some people registered such properties without due diligence and enquiry, he said. In some cases, only commercial sheds were removed, while at Sunnam Chervu, a person created a ruckus, who operates 20 to 30 water tankers in the area, he added.
On the allegations that notices and time were not being given to the people, Ranganath said in many cases notices were given to the builders, who did not inform the buyers or tenants (of sheds in Kukatpally case).
On the Janwada farmhouse leased by BRS working president KT Rama Rao, he said since the farmhouse comes under GO 111, other departments would take care of any action. Similarly, the irrigation department would look into FTL of Amar Cooperative Housing Society issue as the notices were served by the revenue department.
Educational institutions belonging to Owaisis, MLAs Ch Malla Reddy, M Rajasekhar Reddy and Palla Rajeshwara Reddy were spared for now as the action (demolition) would affect thousands of students.
As of now, final notification has been issued for 132 of 434 lakes within Outer Ring Road (ORR), while preliminary notifications have been published for 434 water bodies. He said people could check maps of lakes on various websites of the govt before doing any transactions.