Hyderabad: Reacting to encroachers eating up into city lakes, Hyderabad Disaster Response and Assets Monitoring and Protection(HYDRA) commissioner AV Ranganath on Monday, August 12, slammed encroachers for constructing illegal homes inside the full tank level of water bodies.
Ranganath said, “We have a list of encroachers and those who are disposing of waste in the dried lakes. A large amount of properties in these areas belong to politicians and grabbers. These constructions have been done without obtaining no objection certificates (NOC). The encroachment is happening at a large scale but we are targeting those responsible for enabling it. The operations The HYDRA has been allocated a budget of Rs 200 crore and we are taking strict action against encroachments.”
The HYDRA commissioner stated that the government is promoting real estate on a large scale, but that it hasn’t given permission to construct residential buildings around water bodies or by encroaching depleted lakes. “The constructions can be done at allotted spaces and not in designated government land or public spaces. We haven’t checked the Hussain Sagar, however, there are several complaints of encroachment there so we will definitely take it up moving forward,” the HYDRA commissioner said.
Addressing a query on the structure of the newly constituted HYDRA wing, Ranganath said, ” The wing has been formed recently, job notifications will be released shortly. As of now, the asset protection team is working in coordination with the town planning officials. Similarly, the disaster management team is working in coordination with the traffic police. So far the HYDRA has begun working on 20 lakes. “
In July, Telangana chief minister A Revanth Reddy on Monday decided to entrust more responsibilities to the Disaster Management department under the Greater Hyderabad limits. The department was rechristened as Hyderabad Disaster Response and Assets Monitoring Protection (HYDRA). He also asked officials to take appropriate measures to restore the buildings of historical importance and dilapidated structures in the city.
