After carrying out mass demolitions of unauthorized constructions in Ayyappa Society at Madhapur and at Kukatpally a few months ago, the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) has now taken up a similar drive in the L B Nagar municipal circle. GHMC carried out the operation demolition on Monday and Tuesday in L B Nagar where scores of illegal constructions, especially commercial buildings, have sprung up during the last few months. Sources in the corporation claimed that the owners and builders with the support of local politicians and lower level town planning staff resorted to blatant violation of building rules.
In the two-day drive, several buildings were razed at Nagole and Sagar Ring Road. This demolition drive, officials said, would continue for some more days. But the officials are claiming that the local MLAs are coming in the way of demolishing these illegal structures. While LB Nagar corporator D Sudheer Reddy is said to have intervened in the drive in the L B Nagar circle, Charminar MLA Syed Ahmed Pasha Quadri opposed the demolitions at Ghansi Bazar in Old City on Monday. Officials faced similar resistance to the demolition of illegal buildings in Ayyappa Society from local MLA Bikshapathi Yadav and his son Ravi Yadav. Even after the drive, some illegal structures are coming up in Ayyappa Society, the civic officials claimed.
According to officials, 30% of constructions in the city are unauthorized. The GHMC sources said these unauthorized structures in L B Nagar were identified through Off Site Real Time (OSRT) after which the drive began.
To identify illegal constructions, GHMC introduced the OSRT technology in February, 2011. Through this, the town planning staff takes photographs of sites and buildings using the cameras in their mobiles phones and upload them to the corporation website. From there, officials verify whether the particular owner has taken permission or not, and if so, whether he is deviating from the sanctioned plan. Once irregularities are established, that particular building is earmarked for demolition. GHMC till now has in its possession as many as 4,000 images of buildings which are under construction in the entire city.
Of them, about 700 are said to be illegal and nearly 100 of them are in the L B Nagar circle alone. Apart from illegal constructions, several other irregularities were found in the circle. Some town planning employees were placed under suspension a few months ago for alleged irregularities in Building Penalisation Scheme (BPS) and Layout Regularisation Scheme (LRS) which is being investigated by the Vigilance and Enforcement department. “Stern action against illegal constructions will not be confined to only one municipal circle. GHMC will take up the drive in all the circles in a phased manner,” GHMC chief city planner GV Raghu told TOI.
Taking a swift action against officials for their failure to check illegal constructions, GHMC commissioner M T Krishna Babu, late on Tuesday night, placed under suspension city planner (East Zone) P Dayanand, assistant city planner (LB Nagar Circle) Santosh Venu, section officers Masjid and Rajalingam and building inspector Someshwar besides repatriating zonal commissioner (East) Yadagiri Reddy to state government.
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Keyword Tags Hyderabad News,GHMC, Building Demolition
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