Hyderabad: When the Hyderabad Disaster Response and Assets Monitoring and Protection Agency (HYDRAA) swings its demolition hammer, it rarely does so quietly. Since its formation in July 2024, the agency has become Hyderabad’s most talked-about, as well as its most feared, institution. HYDRAA has demolished unauthorised structures across the city’s lakes, parks and government lands, making its commissioner AV Ranganath one of Telangana’s most polarising bureaucrats.
Siasat.com‘s Saleha Fatima sat down for an extensive interview with the controversial man in question, Ranganath, who was both candid and unapologetic. The HYDRAA Commissioner acknowledged that families may have been displaced in some drive, but stopped short of guaranteeing it won’t happen again.
On High Court reprimands, political attacks and allegations of bias, he was unfazed — pointing to the hundreds of ordinary citizens walking into HYDRAA’s office as proof that the agency answers to no one but the public.
Excerpts from the interview:
Q: How can people avoid buying properties in encroached spaces? What are the precautions they should take?
AV Ranganath (AVR): There are different types of encroachments. There are encroachments on the full tank level (FTL) of the lake, which people can check on the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) lakes website. Then there are encroachments on government lands, which people can check through the Bhu Bharati portal.
In layouts, encroachments occur in park spaces. People need to do some ground verification and ask neighbours if the land is under any dispute. Due diligence on the buyer’s part is important. HYDRAA cannot take the blame for everything. Just like people go to great lengths to verify someone’s background for matrimony, they should apply the same caution here.
However, we are trying to educate people at the same time. We will try to publish information on what sort of permissions are required and where on our website and in our magazine.
Q. What about people who are displaced in the anti-encroachment HYDRAA drive and had previous permissions for the properties that the agency has now marked as illegal?
AVR: HYDRAA respects permissions that were given before the agency was formed. Our organisation was formed in July 2024. For instance, if someone has constructed a building in the FTL somewhere in January and all the flats are sold, we will not go and ask them to vacate, since people have already invested their hard-earned money into it.
In the case of invalid permissions given after HYDRAA’s formation, we are holding those officials responsible, sending such cases to the Anti-Corruption Bureau or reporting them to the government. Having said that, we do not respect bogus permissions, like how during the Ameenpur anti-encroachment drive, the owner of the six-storey building showed permission from the panchayat, which can only give permission for ground plus two floors.
In that case, we had given notices one year back, and the owner still decided to fill the building up with tenants. It should also be noted that no one had bought any flats there due to our notices, and they were only giving rent. That too, only 20 out of 45 flats were occupied, the rest were empty.
(On April 11 and 12, HYDRAA undertook a massive demolition drive in Ilapuram village and tore down a farmhouse and a six-storey building belonging to lawyer Mukheem and his brother Azim, claiming that the structures were illegally built on government land)
Q. Did HYDRAA undertake the Ameenpur demolitions at 4 am on a weekend to avoid a stay order from the High Court?
AVR: Carrying out demolitions on a weekend is not illegal, as per an Andhra Pradesh High Court’s 3 aces judgment of 1994, demolitions can happen on Saturday and Sunday and are only barred on festival days.
And regarding claims that demolition was started at 4 am, we do not undertake demolitions before sunrise or after sunset. There are exceptions, of course. For instance, when the building is in an unsafe state, like at risk of collapse if left overnight, then we carry out the demolition at night. Any claims that say otherwise are false.
In addition, Azim tried to fill the building with people even one day before HYDRAA took action. When we went there and knocked on people’s doors, people locked themselves inside. This shows they were given instructions by Azim and his brother Mukhim not to open doors when police or HYDRAA officials come.
Q. But some families were genuinely affected in the Ameenpur drive. What will HYDRAA do to rehabilitate affected people?
AVR: I do agree that one or two families there might have been genuinely affected. We will fine-tune our process so that in the future, even those one or two families are not affected. Going forward, HYDRAA will make sure that people are given enough time to relocate and that buildings are fully vacated before the demolition takes place.
Having said that, I cannot guarantee that instances like Ameenpur, where people were forced out on short notice, will not happen again.
About rehabilitation, just like how people displaced by the Musi rejuvenation project are being given 2BHK flats, we will ask the government to provide 2BHK flats to those displaced during the restoration of lakes.
Q. The Telangana High Court has reprimanded HYDRAA for not following standard procedures. What will the agency do to win the judiciary’s trust back?
AVR: HYDRAA follows all guidelines laid down by the Supreme Court and the High Court. However, sometimes the guidelines themselves say that not all cases require notices, like in the cases of water bodies or parks.
People will go and file cases in the courts even if their property was in a lake. When we demolished Nagarjuna’s N Convention, he immediately filed a case. But the Supreme Court itself says that you don’t need a notice to carry out demolitions in water bodies. HYDRAA following procedure and people filing complaints are two different things. Sometimes not issuing a notice itself is the procedure.
If someone is filing cases against HYDRAA, that should not be seen as a bad thing. People are free to utilise their legal rights. However, HYDRAA is trying trying to ensure that the courts understand our process and will be very careful with the procedure going forward.
Q. In the Bathakumma Kunta case, HYDRAA is facing a contempt of court case for taking up fencing when it was only asked to perform flood mitigation.
AVR: Bathukumma Kunta is a classic case of land grabbing and the matter has now been forwarded to the Supreme Court. We had to take up fencing for the bund works and to prevent children from falling into the water.
The petitioner, Sudhakar Reddy, with an unregistered sale agreement, went to the court saying he bought the property when the money transaction was also not completed. He is now moving from pillar to post to prove that the property belongs to him.
We have won the case in the civil court. The matter is pending in the Telangana High Court and the contempt notice was issued because we took up restoration works while the case was still pending. However, in due course, we are sure that the High Court will also take our side.
(The Telangana High Court, on March 23, had held Commissioner Ranganath guilty of contempt of court for breaching an interim status quo order on the Bathakumma lake)
Q. Former chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao has said that he will scrap HYDRAA if the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) comes back to power in Telangana. Your comments.
AVR: I don’t want to comment on political statements. But I am confident that the public itself will safeguard the institution.
Q. There are allegations that you are an ‘agent of the Congress’ and you only target properties of a certain kind. What do you have to say about this?
AVR: Had we been working for one party only, hundreds of people would not be coming to our office with their complaints. All these people have placed their faith in us. That itself is a testament to how HYDRAA is working.
Earlier, if one person got a demolition notice, they would go to a person in power and get their issue resolved with one phone call. This is how all these unauthorised structures came up, and that is why HYDRAA was formed. We do not listen to any politicians. That is our strength.
Q. What kind of legacy do you want to leave behind – a bulldozer-friendly officer or one with the people?
AVR: Ours is a first-of-its-kind institution in the country, and we are showing others how to deal with encroachments. We are trying to leave a legacy that if anyone is engaging in land grabbing, they have a fear that institutions are strong now.
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