Crime Today News
Hyderabad: Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) area is facing “manpower” shortage to deal with illegal constructions and encroachments.
While HYDRA (Hyderabad Disaster Response and Assets Monitoring and Protection) agency headed by senior IPS officer A V Ranganath and backed by Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy is giving shock treatment to encroachers of lakes, water bodies in Full Tank Level (FTL), buffer zones with spate of demolitions of villas buildings, sheds etc in and around Hyderabad, along Musi River but similar drastic action is missing in the GHMC area.
GHMC officials insists on complaints from public against illegal constructions, encroachments saying all sanctions are online, but when residents lodge complaints, the stoic reply in most cases is “We have served notice and there is shortage of manpower to demolish the structures.”
Though action is being initiated in some cases, especially road widening, encroachments of footpaths, constructions in restricted areas, but many involved in illegal constructions are getting away with it. Officials say they don’t have staff and equipment.
Sanctioned plans dumped
While some have sanctioned plans and follow norms, others deviate from sanctioned plan after getting Occupation Certificate (OC) and raise additional floors illegally.
This is rampant in IT hub where demand for hostels, hotels and others commercial establishments has gone up after COVID pandemic as techies returned to office after working from home.
While Old City of Hyderabad, parts of Secunderabad are a gone case with spate of illegal constructions with no parking space, especially in commercial areas, the upcoming colonies in Financial District, Serilingampally, Gopanpally, Ayyappa Society, Madhapur, Gowlidodi, Journalists Colony Gopanpally, Nizampet, Kukatpally, Nalagandla, Tellapur, Badangpet, Narsingi, Nalagandla, Ayyappa Society and surrounding areas are the new hubs of rampant illegal constructions.
These places have turned chaotic and thrown traffic into haywire. There is hardly any parking space and drainage, water system is awful.
GHMC admits failure
“We have little manpower and equipment to take up demolition of illegal constructions. We serve notice to the building owner for violations and levy heavy penalties in property tax. We cannot sit before every building and check violations. Now everything is online in GHMC. HYDRA has manpower and equipment hence they are able to take up demolitions,” says a senior Town Planning official of Serilingampally Municipality of GHMC.
He adds, “Whenever we get complaints, we serve notice to erring builder/house owner. We penalise them.”
If a person lodges complaint at the formative stage when pillars are raised, the official would say he hasn’t constructed yet. If illegal buildings are raised, the reply would be “you should have complained before completion of the building.
Mere penalties
Shockingly, officials in Secunderabad, Serilingampally and other areas say they have imposed 40 per cent or more penalties on such illegal constructions and this would bring in more revenues to cash starved GHMC in the form of property tax, fines, ignoring the fact that such constructions would cause havoc on civic amenities, parking, drainage, water and make life miserable for people in general.
In Journalists Colony Gopanpally, Gowlidodi, Ayyappa Society, Narsingi, Nalagandla, etc. hundreds of young men and women are living in dingy rooms converted into hostels, mess, co-living and other commercial avenues with hardly any breathing space. There is no fire safety, medical support, etc. in such buildings. There are 10 to 50 dingy rooms in each building where boys and girls stay. In some cases, the gap/setbacks between two buildings are nil or only one-foot. A fire accident could turn catastrophic.
Already these areas are facing drinking water shortage and clogging of drainage system.
Illegal buildings near US consulate
A look at the hostels, commercial buildings near the new US Consulate General office in Nanakramguda, Financial District speaks volumes of official apathy. In fact, some builders say corruption has become institutionalized.
Why should we take HYDRAA help?
When a senior GHMC official was asked why the corporation doesn’t take help of HYDRAA which has manpower and equipment, he shot back, “Why should we? Government should take action on shortage of staff and equipment to deal with illegal construction.”
27 engineers in GHMC sacked
The malaise in GHMC could be gauged by GHMC Commissioner Illambarithi sacking 27 NAC engineers (site engineers) working on an outsourcing basis in the Town Planning Wing with immediate effect for allegedly indulging in corrupt activities and indiscipline, posing a significant threat to the reputation of the civic body.
GHMC Commissioner received complaints that Town Planning authorities have failed to act despite receiving complaints. As many as 15 of the terminated officials were from the L B Nagar Zone, while eight belonged to the Kukatpally Zone.
Recently, GHMC Prajavani programme received 187 complaints, 79 at the head office and the rest at its six zonal offices pertaining to illegal constructions, roads and sanitation.
GHMC has recently demolished illegal sheds at DLF food street, Gachibowli, a wine shop, illegal structures in Madannapet, illegal constructions in Journalists Colony Nizampet, Gopanpally, etc. But in some cases, the illegal constructions are restored after some time, leaving GHMC officials red-faced.
Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy was reportedly furious at the illegal constructions in TNGOs colony, where several multi-storied buildings have come up on 150 square yards to 250 sq. yards in complete violation of GHMC rules. The plot owners had met CM for regularisation of plots and illegal constructions.
Traffic Police on challan spree
While GHMC allows commercial establishments and buildings without parking space, Traffic Police are busy clicking photos for “wrong parking” by two wheelers, cars, lorries, etc. in front of shops and commercial establishments across Hyderabad penalising vehicle owners with fines ranging from Rs 150 to Rs 1000.
Traffic Police instead of regulating traffic, creating parking space seems to be more focussed on penalties.
Last year, Hyderabad Traffic Police collected Rs 535 crore in penalties for various traffic violations including wrong parking. A fine of Rs 1000 is levied for parking in a no parking area or in a way that poses a risk to others.
There is absolutely no coordination between police and GHMC with regard to parking lots. How is building permission, trade license issued without parking space is a million-dollar question.
Similarly, police look the other way where political rallies and meetings are conducted on busy roads.
HYDRAA is effective
HYDRAA actions led by IPS officer A V Ranganath has created a stir among builders who encroached lakes, other water bodies, parks, public spaces, footpaths, etc. and real estate dealings has come to a grinding halt since buyers are vary of plots on water bodies FTL or buffer zones.
Supreme Court, High Court rulings
Supreme Court and High Courts have time and again given guidelines and asked civic authorities not to spare illegal constructions and encroachments.
Expressing severe dissatisfaction over the casual and ineffective approach of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) in addressing public grievances and complying with court directives, Justice K Lakshman of the Telangana High Court suggested that the GHMC commissioner discuss with the Principal Secretary the need for amendments to the Telangana State Building Permission Approval and Self-Certification System (TS-bPASS) to delegate appropriate powers.
The judge also highlighted that sealed properties were being illegally reopened and reused and there were over 2.75 lakh cases pending in the High Court due to GHMC’s inaction.
“People are losing confidence in GHMC. It collects taxes but fails to address public grievances. If this continues, pendency could rise to 3.5 lakh cases,” the judge remarked.
Justice Lakshman criticised the practice of partial demolitions, stating, “What is the use of making two holes in a building? Owners repair the damage and reuse the premises. Such actions are unacceptable.”
Big city with insufficient staff
Greater Hyderabad has been divided into 5 Zones (North, South, Central, East and West) and 18 Circles. From 175 sq. km, the GHMC area has spread to 650 sq. km in 12 municipalities and growing by the day covering over 1 crore populations while the staff strength is not in consonance with the area and population.
GHMC covers four districts- Hyderabad district, part of Medchal Malkajgiri, Ranga Reddy and Sangareddy.
The revenue receipts estimated for 2024-25 are Rs 5,938 crore, which includes Rs 1,200 crore in government grants as compensation to GHMC for debt servicing. However, the state government has allocated Rs 2,654 crore to GHMC under assistance for H-CITI (capital grants). Accordingly, revenue receipts were revised from Rs 5,938 crore to Rs 4,052 crore in the revised Budget estimate for 2024-25.
According to the GHMC, it has approximately 4,500 permanent staff besides contract employees. However, it is estimated that more than 4,000 positions across various departments remain vacant while experts suggest the staff should be around 80,000.
Crime Today News is proudly sponsored by DRYFRUIT.CO – A Brand by eFabby Global LLC
Design & Developed by Yes Mom Hosting
