Refuting rumours that the farmhouse is his benami property, KTR said he has taken it on lease from a close friend.
Published Aug 22, 2024 | 7:00 PM ⚊ Updated Aug 24, 2024 | 7:49 PM
An aerial view of the farmhouse at Janwada, which KTR said, was taken on lease from a friend. (Sourced)
HYDRAA, like the eponymous multiple-headed water monster in Greek mythology, is giving sleepless nights to many in Hyderabad.
In Telangana, HYDRAA is the abbreviation for Hyderabad Disaster Response and Asset Protection Agency, now on a drive to demolish buildings in Full-Tank Level (FTL) and buffer zones of reservoirs, including Himayath Sagar and Osman Sagar.
Over the past fortnight, HYDRAA officials have ignored the hue and cry raised by owners and went on to pull down structures in the prohibited zones. Among the structures, one specific building has evinced political interest. It’s said that HYDRAA has its sights set on this particular building, a farmhouse, at Janwada in Ranga Reddy district’s Shankarpalli mandal.
Rumours are rife that the farmhouse is a benami holding of KT Rama Rao, former minister and BRS working president. KTR, as popularly known, refuted the rumours, but said he had leased the property from a ‘close friend’.
“I do not own any farmhouse in Janwada,” the former minister told a news conference. “It belongs to my friend. I have taken it from him on lease. Even then I am ready to cooperate with the state government in pulling it down if it is in the prohibited zone — either in full-tank level or buffer zone,” he said.
Full-tank level refers to the maximum capacity of a water body such as a lake or river.
KTR’s willingness to cooperate with the demolition drive came with a rider. “I want to know if the officials, after demolishing the farmhouse, would come with me to raze several such buildings that Congress leaders, including ministers, own,” he asked.
The BRS leader said Revenue Minister Ponguleti Srinivasa Reddy and Congress leaders Patnam Mahender Reddy and G Vivek have buildings in the prohibited zone.
“The palaces that are owned by Congress leaders are located in the FTL and buffer zones. Let HYDRA officials pull them down,” he said and advised the chief minister to stop making a show of pulling down unauthorised constructions using “HYDRA or amoeba.”
KTR dared the government to demonstrate its integrity and honesty by demolishing all such buildings in one day and added that he is ready to show the demolition authorities the building owned by Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy.
In a related development on Wednesday, 21 August, the Telangana High Court refused to restrain HYDRAA from razing the farmhouse at Janwada.
The court, after hearing the arguments on a petition filed by the farmhouse owner Pradeep Reddy, said the authorities were free to demolish buildings regardless of whether they were raised in 60 square yards or 60 acres if they were constructed in violation of rules.
However, the court said there was a need to examine the demolitions closely and asked the additional advocate general to furnish details of the buildings that had been razed by HYDRAA since its inception and whether all demolitions took place because the buildings were constructed illegally.
The additional advocate general told the court that the HYDRAA was coordinating its activities with the civic bodies under whose jurisdiction the buildings were marked for destruction. He said notices were being issued to owners in advance, intimating them of HYDRAA’s intent to pull them down.
The court also wondered why no action had been taken against such buildings during the past 20 years and why the government was now in a hurry to demolish them. The additional advocate general argued that Pradeep Reddy’s petition before the court was not maintainable since the Janwada farmhouse was constructed in violation of GO 111, which proscribed any construction in the FTL.
There are talks that Revanth Reddy is serious about pulling down Janwada farmhouse to settle his scores with KTR. The previous government had registered a case against Revanth Reddy for flying a drone over the farmhouse to prove that it had come up in the prohibited zone.
In early July, the state government constituted HYDRAA in the place of Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC)’s Enforcement Vigilance and Disaster Management (EVDM) with its jurisdiction till the Nehru Outer Ring Road. The chief minister is its chairman. The HYDRAA’s jurisdiction now covers the GHMC, 27 municipalities and corporations and 33 village panchayats that are within the ORR.
HYDRAA’s task is not only to act during disasters but also to protect lakes, government properties and lands from encroachers. The HYDRA should help in flood management, as Hyderabad is prone to flash floods, and traffic regulations in such situations become a challenge. Senior IPS officer AV Ranganath has been appointed the commissioner of HYDRA.
The chief minister gave Ranganath a carte blanche to protect lakes and government lands. Taking the cue, Ranganath got cracking. As he had the backing of the chief minister, he pulled out all the stops in razing the buildings in the prohibitory zones.
No demolition of this scale has ever taken place in Hyderabad in the past and it is said that Revanth Reddy is keen on clearing all encroachments from the FTLs of lakes and reservoirs to minimise loss of property and life in times of flooding. As most of the lakes have disappeared in Hyderabad, the city gets waterlogged during rains.
The HYDRA acting on a study conducted by the National Remote Sensing Centre. The study found that the area of water bodies in Hyderabad has shrunk to 3,974 acres from 10,461 acres about 44 years ago. As a result, 61 percent of lakes disappeared over some time.
Revanth Reddy, intervening in a short-duration discussion in the Assembly recently, said that HYDRAA was created to cause fear among those who encroach on water bodies, canals and roads. He said that Hydra will come up with a permanent solution to the construction of buildings in the FTL areas of the lakes.
He pointed out that the drainage system in Hyderabad is intended to handle only 2 cm of rainfall when the average rainfall is about 9 cm.
(Edited by Majnu Babu)
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