Demolition drive launched to clear encroached land in Hyderabad

Hyderabad: Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) on Tuesday began demolishing illegal structures built on prime land in Madhapur area near Hitec City.

At least 21 structures including high-rise buildings and a school that were built on the land were set to be demolished, officials said. Some of them belong to Ayyappa society.

Ten teams from GHMC, armed with bulldozers and other heavy equipment, protected by police, launched the clearing operation on Tuesday morning, from survey No. 11 to 37, to reclaim 620 acres of land.

The land originally belonged to Gurukul Trust but was illegally encroached on by reportedly influential people, including politicians and bureaucrats.

The operation to clear the illegal structures was launched a day after Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao held a review meeting with officials including the GHMC Commissioner Somesh Kumar, director-general of police Anurag Sharma and some ministers.

An angry Chief Minister wanted to know from the officials how water and electricity connections were provided to the illegal structures in the area.

As many of the properties belong to people and companies from the Seemandhra region, some people tried to give it a political color. But leaders of Raos Telangana Rashtra Samitri party said they had promised during the election campaign to clear encroachments on all lands including that of Gurukul Trust, Bhoodan lands and Waqf lands.

Back in September 2012 a division bench of Andhra Pradesh High Court had declared Gurukul Trust the absolute owner of the 625 acres of land in the area and asked the encroachers to compensate the trust.

A recent government survey also revealed that in Ranga Reddy district alone 17,513 acres of government land was encroached upon. The value of the land was estimated at whopping Rs3 trillion (Dh183 billion).

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Demolition drive launched to clear encroached land in Hyderabad