More than 50 per cent of the water bodies under the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) limits have been encroached upon by many, mainly local builders and real estate companies. One such lake, facing encroachment is the Erla Cheruvu in Madinaguda.
"The lake, which was originally 15 ft wide, has now been reduced to a mere four ft,” explained Panasa Rama Krishna of Saving Our Urban Lakes (SOUL), an NGO.
The encroachment of the nala happened at two places in Madinaguda, one near the Erla Cheruvu sluice and the other at Kallam Anjireddy Vidyalaya (Dr Reddy’s Foundation). A private company by the name Swathi Constructions (SVS Infracon Pvt Ltd) is allegedly constructing an apartment on the nala in violation of the rules.
According to the AP Land Encroachment Act, 1905 there should be no construction nearby water bodies. “People who are buying flats in the upcoming apartment have no idea that it will be flooded whenever it rains. So, the building is deceiving them as well besides violating rules,” said Ramakrishna.
The NGO detected the encroachment in the first week of July and filed complaints with GHMC commissioner and executive engineer of the Irrigation Department on July 24. “It’s been a month, still no action has been taken. The complaint was given when the builder had just started laying the ground floor. Now, he is constructing the third floor,” alleged Ramakrishna who also accused the civic body of blindly giving permits for the construction company, without inspecting the place. “The permit number for the apartment is 12082/HO/WZ/Cir-12/2012 for Swathi Constructions in the survey number 81,82,84,85,” revealed Ramakrishna. “We have also met the zonal commissioner, West Zone, GHMC, deputy commissioner and the GHMC chief city planner. But, no action has been taken yet,” he added.
When contacted, GV Raghu, chief city planner, GHMC, clarified, “no permission has been granted for construction at the site, yet. I have received a complaint, post which I have instructed my subordinates to issue a show-cause notice to the company. We will take immediate action and give orders for demolishing the building. After further inspection, if there are any more violations, we will also collect penalty from them.”
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