A house is being constructed on an encroached land at Jayanagar colony, in Kukatpally on Saturday | manikanta
HYDERABAD: As open spaces become scarce in a rapidly concretising Hyderabad, 2,000 families residing at Jayanagar Colony in Kukatpally are losing all hope on receiving any help from the government in their struggle to protect a small piece of open land in their colony from encroachment.
The land of about 1,200 square yards is clearly demarcated as a ‘well’ in the colony’s layout, which Express verified. However, a visit to the spot revealed that a portion of the land is encroached and a house is under construction by a person who obtained building permission through fraudulent means. A slab of the house was laid as recently as on the wee hours of Saturday, even though GHMC revoked the building permission on May 28.
Speaking to Express, joint secretary of Jayanagar Colony Welfare Association, Krishna Rao, said, “In the colony’s layout, the open space is clearly demarcated as a well. However, many years ago, owners of this layout illegally divided the open space into six plots and sold them. Since then our association has been fighting to ensure that no one lays claim and encroaches it. In 2014, we made the GHMC erect a board informing that the land belongs to them and had requested for a park to be developed there, which was not heeded to.”
Rao further said, “Last year a person who bought one of the illegal plots carved out of the open space, got building permission illegally in connivance with a GHMC official. The person even started construction of a house. After we complained about it to senior officials in GHMC, the building permission was revoked. Unfortunately, the person is continuing the construction.”
In a document titled ‘Proceedings of the Commissioner, GHMC’, in possession of Express, it is clearly mentioned that the person, K Sundar Rama Raju of West Godavari district in Andhra Pradesh, fabricated documents to get building permission. He even fabricated layout of the colony, to show the open space as a plotted area. Express could not contact Raju. When GHMC assistant city planner for Kukatpally, T Keshava Reddy, was asked as to why no action was being taken even though building permission has been revoked by GHMC, he said, “The person who is constructing the house had approached the court which passed an injunction order. I will be approaching an advocate to get legal view and will proceed as per rules.”
Balaswamy G, working president of Jayanagar Colony Welfare Association, said, “If the GHMC would have acted quickly, it could have helped in preventing most of the illegal construction.”
