Hyderabad: Telangana chief minister Revanth Reddy and Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) working president KT Rama Rao (KTR) have locked horns over the demolition of illegal structures of encroached land by Hyderabad Disaster Response and Asset Monitoring and Protection Agency (HYDRA), a unified body formed a month back by Revanth’s government with an allocated budget of Rs 200 crore to streamline urban development and end water logging In the city during rains.
Structures allegedly built illegally by politicians, film stars, and businessmen have been bulldozed by Revanth Reddy’s government and the issue has gotten a mixed reaction to what some say is an ‘undemocratic’ style of bulldozing properties. Owners of some who have taken stay orders from courts were also victimized are sore and unhappy with the government’s action.
With every residential or commercial encroachment on full tank levels and buffer zones of lakes and ponds on the verge of getting bulldozed, the face-off between KTR and Revanth Reddy reached a new level as the chief minister Revanth Reddy recently resorted to quoting Hindu religious texts to justify his actions against encroachers. He also threatened further stringent measures to fight the menace and not caving into any pressure with reagrd to HYDRA.
KTR, whose property was reportedly the first victim of HYDRA, called it a “political vendetta” demanding that the properties of Congress leaders on encroached water bodies should also be demolished. And BJP’s traditional gripe is “take action against Owaisi properties” as usual.
Political observers say Revanth Reddy should have taken up this issue at a later stage and instead should have gone for other more pressing issues like sprucing up roads and streets that are really in bad shape. They also feel that rising cases of Dengue and Chikungunya in the state is also the government should have done something about. Reports claim 700 new dengue cases in the past four days with the city itself recording the highest number of 1,852 cases.
Authorities have marked 27 central spots in the city under the limits of the Hyderabad Traffic City Police that are inundated during rains. Qutubllahpura, L.B Nagar, Kothaguda, Shilpapuram, Sheikahpet, Nampally, Mallepally, Amberpet, and Old Gandhi Hospital are the most affected.
