GHMC officials use excavators to remove illegal structures from a footpath, at Himayatnagar in Hyderabad | sathya keerthi
HYDERABAD: The GHMC launched a large scale demolition drive against illegal encroachments in the twin cities on Sunday, amidst resistance from the shopkeepers and footpath vendors. Of first day of the special demolition drive, as many as 1,024 structures were razed to the ground across the city by the Enforcement, Vigilance and Disaster Management, a wing of the Corporation.
At some places, the teams had to face resistance and war of words from the shopkeepers, footpath vendors, local leaders and others for demolishing the structures without any prior notices. Of the 1,024 encroachments removed till 6 pm on Saturday, 822 were either permanent or semi permanent structures while 202 were movable structures. GHMC has identified about 4,133 structures for demolition in the first phase, Another, 3,000 structures would be removed in the next week. The Directorate has deployed six special teams, one for each zone. Each team has been allotted 8 stretches -- a total of 48 stretches will be covered in the first phase.
ghmc demarcates vending zones
GHMC has categorised as many as 135 zones in the city as prohibited, partial and free-vending zones. Of the 135, about 24 places are prohibited for footpath vendors due to heavy traffic movement, 34 places have been demarcated as partial vending zones where business is allowed within specific timings and 77 were identified as free vending zones. The GHMC is doing this based on guidelines issued by the Centre as part of street vendor policy.
