Owaisi criticises HYDRA demolition drive, asks if GHMC building will be next

Hyderabad MLA and All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) president Asaduddin Owaisi has criticized the ongoing demolition drive led by Hyderabad Disaster Response and Assets Monitoring and Protection Agency (HYDRA) across the city. He questioned whether the Congress government would extend the same actions to government buildings constructed on encroached lands, specifically alleging that the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) building itself is built on a water pond and asked if the government would demolish it.

Meanwhile, BRS MLA Madhavaram Krishna Rao welcomed the demolition drive but raised serious questions about the individuals who had purchased land or built homes on what is now considered encroached property. "Most of the properties in the FTL or buffer zone are purchased by common people. Will HYDRA ensure compensation for these people from the builders?" Rao asked. 

He also questioned the state government’s plan to hold various government authorities accountable for permitting encroachments on water bodies. "Will there be any action taken against officials from the irrigation, revenue, municipal, or HMDA departments who initially sanctioned these encroachments?" Rao added.

HYDRA, a body constituted recently by the state government, has so far reclaimed 43 acres of land by demolishing illegal structures on lakes including the N-Convention Centre of actor Nagarjuna, buildings owned by AIMIM MLA Mohammed Mubeen and MLC Mirza Rahmat Baig on heritage lake Bum-Rukn-Ud-Dowla and the properties of former union minister and Congress leader Pallam Raju's brother Pallam Anand (ORO sports), Kaveri Seeds owner and former member of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD) GV Bhasker Rao and BJP leader Sunil Reddy, who contested as MLA candidate from Manthani constituency).

Headed by IPS officer AV Ranganath, HYDRA has been demolishing illegal structures in and around the city for the last couple of weeks to reclaim the encroached land of water bodies. Chief Minister Revanth Reddy declared that the government will remove encroachments on lakes, ponds and other water bodies irrespective of the political affiliations of the encroachers. Recently, the National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC) revealed that the extent of lakes in Hyderabad reduced by 61 per cent between 1979 and 2024.

(With IANS inputs)