The Hyderabad Disaster Response and Asset Protection Agency (HYDRAA), Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) and the Telangana revenue department on Wednesday began demolition of a five-storey building at Siddiq Nagar in Gachibowli area, after it tilted, raising fears of an imminent collapse, on Tuesday night, people familiar with the matter said.
According to a GHMC official who was supervising the demolition, the building suddenly tilted towards its left at around 9 pm on Tuesday, triggering panic among the residents.
“While almost all of them ran out of their rooms, one person, identified as Iqbal Hussain, jumped off the third floor of the building, sustaining injuries. He was shifted to a nearby hospital, where his condition is stable. All the other residents were accommodated in a local community hall,” the official said.
The building – Happy Residency – was constructed over 50 square feet area, in violation of the GHMC norms in 2022. “There are five floors in the building, including a pent house. Except the ground floor and the pent house which have one bed room each, three other floors have double-bedroom flats,” the official said. The official said three days back, works on the construction of a new building began on an open plot behind Happy Residency. “On Tuesday morning, the builder took up excavation in the plot for erection of two pillars and this appears to have affected the foundation of the building, which tilted,” the official said.
On receiving information, teams from HYDRA, GHMC and the revenue department, along with the police, rushed to the site and evacuated the people in the surrounding buildings as a precautionary measure. Police have cordoned off the area to prevent any untoward incident.
“After assessing the situation on Wednesday, the authorities took up the demolition of the building carefully without affecting the adjacent structures,” the official quoted above added.
Owner of the tilted building V Swapna told the reporters that she had constructed the building after selling her small piece of agriculture land. She, however, refused to comment on whether she had obtained necessary permissions to construct a five-storeyed building on such a small plot.
The GHMC official said an inquiry was ordered to ascertain if the owner had obtained valid permission for the construction.
