Hyderabad: A team of Hyderabad Disaster Response and Asset Protection Agency (HYDRAA), Serilingampally revenue and GHMC officials conducted a demolition drive in the full tank level (FTL) limits and buffer zone areas of the Khajaguda lake on Tuesday morning, December 31.
About 20 illegal structures, including shops were razed down amid tight security and police bandobast. According to the officials, the structures stood on a two-acre area of land near the FTL limits of the Khajaguda lake resulting in blockage of natural flow of flood water into it. It comes under the Nanakramguda village of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) limits.
The action followed after HYDRAA commissioner AV Ranganath conducted a field inspection on December 23 in Tautanikunta and Bhagirathamma lakes near Nanakramguda, and Neknampur lake in Narsingi regions.
Hyderabad town planning dept to address illegal constructions
Meanwhile, locals complained they were given only a 24-hour notice which was insufficient to move their stuff.
HYDRAA chief AV Ranganath had recently claimed that since its inception, the agency has been able to reclaim 200 acres of government-owned land from encroachments and illegal constructions, and was able to rejuvenate 8 major lakes and 12 parks in the city.
HYDRAA officials reportedly use rural maps, Survey of India maps and data from the National Remote Sensing Agency to determine the floodwater flow channels into the lakes, and remove the illegal constructions that cause blockage.
