Hyderabad: HYDRAA, an enforcement agency constituted by the Congress-led Revanth Reddy government last month, is riling celebrities, businesspersons, powerful politicians, and some ordinary citizens in Telangana.
The agency, with a name of that spells and sounds similar to that of a microscopic freshwater organism, is on mission mode to save fresh-water bodies in Hyderabad from encroachments.
Hyderabad Disaster Response and Asset Protection Agency might be a mouthful, but HYDRAA, the acronym, has become the talk of the town across Telangana, especially, and understandably, in the capital city.
HYDRAA is now synonymous with a high-profile demolition drive that has become a focal point of political controversy and debate, with the state’s main opposition party Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) accusing the CM of “bulldozer raj” under the pretext of protecting lakes, emulating UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath’s model.
Just last week, a farmhouse linked to former minister and BRS working president KT Rama Rao, built close to a reservoir, was in the line of fire amid the demolition drive. In an X post Friday, KTR asked Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge to “advise the Congress government in Telangana to not become yet another bulldozer raj in the country”.
Dear Kharge Ji,
As you said, demolishing someone’s home and rendering their family homeless is both inhumane and unjust
This is exactly what is happening in Telangana with utter contempt for law & judiciary. Below is a video of Mahbubnagar town where 75 houses of poor have been… https://t.co/HlneWWBVlj pic.twitter.com/8qJJeeDQ45
— KTR (@KTRBRS) August 30, 2024
HYDRAA garnered significant media coverage last week, when it demolished Telugu actor Akkineni Nagarjuna’s N Convention Centre in Madhapur. The luxury venue, used for weddings and other grand events of the who’s who of the two Telugu states, was brought down Saturday in hours with HYDRAA employing heavy demolition machinery.
Very little remained of the 10-year-old structure, allegedly built on the Full Tank Level (FTL) of Tammidikunta pond, by the time Nagarjuna got a stay order from the Telangana High Court. FTL is mark up to where the water gets filled in peak seasons.
HYDRAA’s primary objectives include protection of lakes, ponds, and other water bodies in Hyderabad. It also reclaims public properties like roads, parks, freeing them from encroachments.
Many water bodies here have been shrinking, because of the unhindered real estate expansion especially in the last 15-20 years, corresponding with Hyderabad’s rapid growth in IT, BPO, pharma, manufacturing, and other sectors.
Most of these buildings are alleged to have been erected because of a nexus between politicians, officials, and businessmen, despite regime changes and the formation of the state of Telangana in 2014.
On Thursday, revenue officials issued demolition notices to over 200 property owners around Durgam Cheruvu, a scenic lake in Cyberabad, Telangana’s IT-financial district.
Among those served notices is chief minister Revanth’s brother, Tirupathi Reddy, whose office and residence in Amar Cooperative Society, were found to be in the FTL of the lake. Tirupathi has said he will comply with the notice according to which encroachments should be removed within 30 days.
The notices follow CM Revanth Reddy’s assertion that any construction violating FTL and buffer zone regulations, including those by his own family members, would be demolished without leniency.
The CM’s strong statement had come in response to opposition BJP leaders’ accusations of selective targeting of political opponents’ properties.
Former BRS minister Harish Rao at a press conference Sunday alleged that HYDRAA was being weaponised for carrying out a political vendetta. He was accompanied by BRS MLA Palla Rajeshwar Reddy, whose Anurag educational institutions are under the scanner for allegedly occupying an area over a lake in Hyderabad’s satellite town of Ghatkesar.
The chief minister has denied the accusations. At a Janmashtami event Monday, Revanth said he set out on the mission to save water bodies guided by Krishna’s teachings in the the Bhagavad Gita.
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‘Demolition man’ faces criticism
IPS officer AV Ranganath, the commissioner of HYDRAA, is also at the receiving end of severe flak.
“Yes, it is quite a big, challenging task and I am receiving both bouquets and brickbats already,” Ranganath, who is also being referred to as the “demolition man”, told ThePrint in an interview this week.
The senior police officer, in the spotlight for unabated demolitions, insisted that HYDRAA’s approach is professional and objective, aimed at reclaiming land for water bodies and mitigating urban flooding. “The state government has given us freedom and is firmly in support of HYDRAA (despite the pressure),” he said.
“We too are going about our work professionally, meticulously and transparently; there is no individual targeting or handpicking of cases with ulterior motives,” he added.
On Saturday, after actor Nagajuna said the demolition of the convention centre was unlawful, Ranganath said the structure was raised without building permissions and illegal in the first place.
The officer, a graduate in mechanical engineering from Osmania University, said his agency acts based on facts, reports and is not swayed by celebrity status or political influence.
Earlier this month, former minister and Khairatabad MLA, Danam Nagendar — who switched from BRS to Congress soon after December assembly results — obliquely threatened to get Ranganath transferred.
The warning came after police booked the MLA on HYDRAA’s complaint for allegedly obstructing their work and provoking local residents to remove a fence placed around a park. On 9 August, HYDRAA officials reclaimed the government park land in Nandagiri, Jubilee Hills, by removing the tin sheds that had been built over parts of it.
Danam, a local strongman, was the Congress Lok Sabha candidate in Secunderabad and lost to BJP in the general elections.
At the same time, BJP Telangana legislature leader Maheshwar Reddy has accused HYDRAA and Ranganath of targeting properties of the Hindu community, while allowing the operation of buildings run by the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) leaders over the bed of Salkam Cheruvu lake in the old city.
“Is he a commissioner or a politician? Why are old city encroachments not focused on? You should make your agenda clear to the public,” Maheshwar Reddy said while addressing the media on Thursday.
On Friday, Minister of State (Home Affairs) Bandi Sanjay too questioned “Revanth’s double standards, not issuing notices to MLA Akbaruddin Owaisi run educational institutions in Bandlaguda lake extent”.
Opposition leaders questioned Revanth and Ranganath for issuing notices to the educational institutions run by BRS MLAs Palla Rajeshwar Reddy and Marri Rajasekhar Reddy that are allegedly built in lake areas, but not applying the same yardstick for those run by AIMIM leaders.
However, AIMIM leaders including Asaduddin Owaisi and Akbaruddin Owaisi have also criticised the demolition drive, questioning whether government buildings, such as the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) headquarters built on a pond area, would be similarly razed.
In a zealous appeal, MLA Akbaruddin Owaisi at an event earlier this week reportedly said that he was willing to lay down his life to stop poor students from being deprived of an education.
Responding to these allegations, the HYDRAA commissioner told ThePrint: “Everyone is the same for us; every violation will be dealt with the same way after thorough inspections. We want to give some time till this academic year ends, as demolitions now would disrupt, damage the careers of thousands of students.”
He shared a list of 18 demolitions that his team has carried out over the last two months, reclaiming around 44 acres of land encroaching on various water bodies. The list included buildings linked to AIMIM Bahadurpura MLA Mohmad Mubeen and AIMIM MLC Mirza Rahmat Beig that were encroaching into Bhumruq-dowla Lake in Rajendranagar.
The structures razed at Gandipet lake included the ORO sports village of Pallam Anand, the brother of former Congress Union minister MM Pallam Raju, and also buildings linked to the owner of agricultural firm Kaveri Seeds and Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams board former member GV Bhasker Rao; BJP leader Sunil Reddy; and Annapuran and Srinivas Sreeramaneni, owner of Telugu Titans, a Pro Kabbadi League team.
Pallam Raju, the former MoS (defence), said, in a post on X, that he was “extremely pained” by the demolition of his brother’s sports venture built across seven acres of leased land that was “carried out without notice”.
According to Ranganath, “HYDRAA does not serve notices. We go by the reports from revenue, water board and other concerned departments and complaints. We review the status of controversial structures in public notice and go about our job.”
“While the general public has brought several incidents of government land being grabbed to our notice, we became aware of others after the parties approached the court for stay orders.”
Amid calls from influential people to spare some structures, Ranganath said he has also been flooded by complaints from residents bringing various encroachments to the agency’s notice.
Manisha Gowrishetty, 26, visited the HYDRAA office Wednesday to register a complaint over nala encroachments and illegal constructions in the Ramnagar area that was obstructing access to civic amenities. “After reviewing our RWA (Resident Welfare Association) plea, Ranganath sir had come for site inspection the same day.”
“He had asked encroachers to remove the illegal structures in a day or two, telling them that failing which HYDRAA will act. The agency bulldozers rolled into our street today and razed the constructions,” Gowrishetty told ThePrint Friday, adding that she has had to move for the time being after receiving threatening calls from some people in the locality.
Chandra Mohan Mandala, president of Ramnagar (Manemma Galli) RWA, said: “We had to put up with drainage and flooding problems all these years because of the nala being covered. Despite several inspections and demolition orders, nothing happened.”
“We are grateful to Ranganath sir for the prompt action freeing our community space from one and half decade of grab. There is a festive atmosphere today in our galli (lane),” Mandala said.
As some Gandipet residents took out a rally Sunday in solidarity with HYDRAA, there are also demands from people and leaders from other towns and cities in Telangana like Warangal to expand HYDRAA jurisdiction or form such bodies there too.
More teeth, tech support
Ranganath, who was previously the inspector-general of police (IGP) Multizone-1 covering north Telangana, was first appointed as director of GHMC’s Enforcement Vigilance and Disaster Management (EVDM) wing on 26 June even as the CM was working with officials on HYDRAA’s formation.
The agency was created on 19 July as “a single, unified, dedicated organisation” for disaster management and asset protection. Ranganath was appointed its commissioner a day later.
According to the government order issued by the municipal administration and urban development department, HYDRAA has jurisdiction over all Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation and local bodies within the Outer Ring Road (ORR), and areas “included, excluded by the government from time to time in future”.
“HYDRAA’s precursor, EVDM, was operating under GHMC with several restrictions, including on budget, while we are an independent entity with separate funds and allocation of personnel drawn from police, municipal, revenue, and other departments,” explained Ranganath.
The IPS officer, with long stint in city traffic management as a deputy commissioner and later joint commissioner of Hyderabad Traffic Police, said the primary objective of HYDRAA is managing disasters like urban flooding that the city has been experiencing for years now.
“Traffic goes for a toss even with a short spell of rain and public life goes haywire with a downpour. How do you stop the recurring flooding of roads, apartments, and other urban infrastructure when lakes, ponds, streams, and other water bodies are encroached on? Hence the demolitions are conducted to reclaim the space for natural flow and storage of water,” said Ranganath.
The agency is collaborating with the National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC) to assess encroachments over 500 water bodies lying within the Hyderabad ORR using satellite imagery, bypassing the difficulties of physical inspections.
As some parties challenge HYDRAA’s legal authority in court, sources said, the state government is considering legislation to strengthen the agency’s mandate.
Based on a number of petitions, including that of realtor Pradeep Reddy, who KT Rama Rao has claimed is the actual owner of the Janwada farmhouse that is under Revanth government scrutiny, the Telangana High Court has issued certain guidelines to HYDRAA on demolitions.
On Thursday, Chief Secretary Santhi Kumari convened a review meeting to discuss expanding HYDRAA’s jurisdiction and enhancing its powers. The meeting included the municipal, revenue, and irrigation departments, police officials, legal experts, and the collectors of Hyderabad, Rangareddy, Medchal-Malkajgiri and Sangareddy districts.
The officials discussed giving HYDRAA powers to issue notices and bring the twin reservoirs, Himayat and Osman Sagar, that lie outside ORR under the agency’s purview.
“We might be a bit lenient with residential properties, education institutions for now but would be ruthless with commercial establishments operating in FTLs, lake zones. We are also writing to police, towards prosecution of officials who allowed such structures,” Ranganath said.
(Edited by Sanya Mathur)
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