To rein in Hyderabad’s encroachers, special cell can start here...

HYDERABAD: At a time when the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation has launched an assets protection cell, to take stock of encroachments across Hyderabad, TOI finds out the biggest violations in town. Topping the charts is Madhapur’s Ayyappa Society followed by areas around the Khajaguda Lake, the lung space in Banjara Hill’s MLA Colony and the surroundings of the city’s two iconic water bodies — Durgam Cheruvu and Hussainsagar.
Official records show multiple acres have been siphoned off, over the years, to pave way for commercial establishments, plush housing societies, independent homes. Driving this practice is the lucrative land value of each site — between Rs 60,000 and Rs 1.5 lakh per square yard.

At Ayyappa Society, while the GHMC has been demolishing structures, spread over 120 acres and 20 guntas, since years they continue to resurface despite the court’s intervention. While government claims that the land belongs to Gurukul Trust, residents maintain it is the society’s land.. The Khajaguda Lake is another victim that’s shrunk by close to 1.5 acres between 2014 and 2019. What has come up are three gated communities. The government too has taken up civic works. “In the name of developmental works, heritage rocks are being blasted to lay roads,” said Lubna Sarwath, a social activist.
In Banjara Hills Road number 12, the lung space shrunk from 3.2 acres to 1.6 acres. Commercial establishments have been built while some residents have extended their compound walls, thus eating into park space. As per a case filed in high court, 10 acres of land falling under Full Tank Level has been handed over to private players for a sports club in Sanjeeviah Park. “How is the government allowing construction in FTL?” questioned Harish Daga, an activist. The condition of Durgam Cheruvu is the same, with water spread now down to 79.80 acres from the original 156 acres. Here too commercial establishments and housing societies have surfaced.
GHMC officials said they are doing everything to take action against offenders. “In Ayyappa society, we have taken up a special drive against encroachments. Seven buildings were demolished on Thursday and four on Wednesday,” said GHMC commissioner DS Lokesh Kumar. “In MLA Colony Road number 12, GHMC’s directorate of EVDM was able to save 1.6 acres of park land,” said Vishwajit Kampati, director, EVDM.