Complaints of illegal structures crowd Prajavani at GHMC and HYDRAA

HYDRAA Commissioner A.V. Ranganath and officials receiving complaints and concerns directly from the public, during the Prajavani programme at Buddha Bhavan in Hyderabad on Monday.
| Photo Credit: RAMAKRISHNA G

Complaints about unauthorised structures and illegal encroachments abounded at the public grievance redressal forum ‘Prajavani’ conducted at Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation and Hyderabad Disaster Response and Asset Protection Agency, simultaneously on Monday.

Officials had to face awkward moments during the programme at GHMC, when a person, purported victim of land grabbing, started venting his ire at having to make several rounds of the corporation to get the building permission cancelled. Police had to intervene and remove him physically from the scene.

Later, speaking to the media, the person A. Narsing Rao said his wife was the owner of 5 acres 14 guntas of land in Borabanda which a prominent builder had occupied allegedly and started construction of towers.

“We had a favourable decree in 2014 from the sessions court, after which the builder approached the High Court challenging it. The GHMC was duty bound to implement the order of the sessions court and revoke the building permission, which it has not done so far. The case in the High Court does not come up for hearing, and meanwhile the structure is continuing. Any number of representations to the successive commissioners and Town Planning officials have not yielded results,” Mr. Narsing Rao complained.

A notice was issued to the builder by the previous GHMC Commissioner Amrapali Kata, yet no action has been taken, he added.

In another representation, a complainant G. Jagadish brought to the notice of the authorities, an attempt to occupy a five-foot alleyway in Ramnagar area of the city, for unauthorised extension of a house. “It is a very small issue, yet we have been representing endlessly to the authorities with no action in sight. The neighbour has already finished the ground floor, and now constructing the upper floors, which will expose our house to toilet stink and shut down the ventilation,” complained K. Santhosh, a relative of the owner.

Commissioner K. Ilambarithi heard both the cases and issued necessary instructions to the officials towards resolution. Of the 55 petitions received at GHMC’s head office, 30 pertained to Town Planning wing alone. The corporation received a total 108 representations in the Prajavani programme conducted across all the zones.

At HYDRAA office on the other end of the Hussainsagar Lake, Commissioner A.V.Ranganath heard another complaint about one more prominent builder filling up a stormwater drain to construct a gated community at Attapur. After viewing the encroachment on satellite images, Mr. Ranganath issued instructions for ground inspection and action.

One more complaint was about encroachment of layout open spaces in the Defence Colony in Secunderabad, which was authorised by the colony welfare association previously.

“The previous association signed a lease agreement for five years with the local corporator, who built an illegal structure on the space. Encouraged by Mr.Ranganath’s previous action with regard to clearance of another encroachment in our colony, we have brought this too to his notice,” said Jyothi Chowdary Bandi, vice-president of the present Defence Colony Residents’ Welfare Association.

Complaints of open space encroachment were received from Anjaneya Nagar of Moosapet too, besides another representation about encroachment of Medikunta lake in Nizampet municipality. A total 89 grievances were received and scrutinised as per information from HYDRAA.