At a joint meeting held on Thursday to review the eviction-cum-demolition exercise in various parts of the twin cities, Commissioner B. Janardhan Reddy told the zonal and deputy commissioners, town planning officers and the engineers that the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) would help accommodate those who would be evicted during the ongoing removal of encroachments at the storm water drains (‘nalas’), in the 2000-odd ready-for-occupation homes built under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) and VAMBAY.
About 93 structures have been demolished in the last six days and these were part of the 844 critical bottlenecks identified during a recent survey for immediate widening for allowing the smooth flow of the excess water generated during rainfall.
Since individual sketches were being prepared for all the properties that would be affected and the structural valuations being prepared by the engineering section, the teams on the field should make use of the prevailing dry weather to take up demolition drives, remove the debris and strengthen the drain lining after widening.
Mr. Reddy explained that, as per the court orders issued last year, those living on the government lands and also the affected private property owners should be given two weeks to respond or vacate the said premises. Demolitions should be taken only if no reply was received following due procedures. In case people continued to live on the premises, a final notice should be issued.
Ex-gratia
The GHMC Commissioner said that the government had issued orders for payment of ex-gratia or compensation to the properties lost during the storm water drain widening. For open sites, and when information about the ownership was missing, a trench should be built for the widened portion. The current exercise would continue till all the listed structures are removed, he added.
Hotels raided
In a related development, the municipal corporation officers with the help of the city police have conducted inspections in about 22 hotels in different parts for checking on cleanliness, usage of plastic covers below 50 microns, etc. and collected ₹6.64 lakh as fine for various violations. Surprise checks were conducted at Kukatpaplly, Allwyn colony, Tarnaka, Champaet, Balaljinagar, Banjara Hills, Ranigunj, Karmanghat, Falaknuma, Mehdipatnam, etc.