There is a bulldozer drive story in Hyderabad too. And Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy is giving people sleepless nights with it. In Hyderabad, the bulldozers are all about rescuing the city’s shrinking lakes and water bodies.
Reddy managed to surprise us all— and also scare many—with the creation of the Hyderabad Disaster Response and Asset Monitoring Protection Agency, or HYDRAA.
Established in July under government order (GO) 99, HYDRAA replaced the Enforcement, Vigilance and Disaster Management wing of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC)—but with enhanced powers and scope.
Most people did not take it too seriously initially, probably assuming it was just another political gimmick. But boy oh boy, did Revanth Reddy surprise everyone. By August, HYDRAA had begun demolishing lake encroachments with bulldozers in full swing, starting with the Osman Sagar and Himayat Sagar dams.
It is an unprecedented situation that has unfolded dramatically, with the demolitions quickly becoming a political hot-button issue. The opposition Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) has questioned the procedure, while other parties have accused the Congress government of selective action and held protests. Meanwhile, the CM has challenged the opposition to go stay on the riverbank to understand its dangers.
It’s another matter that the last major threat to people living along the riverbank and near other water bodies was in 2020, when heavy rainfall displaced hundreds across the city.
Also Read: Actors, politicians to RWAs, everyone fears HYDRAA in Telangana. Why govt agency’s talk of the town
HYDRAA’s double standards?
Perhaps to prove a point or to show he means business, Reddy’s demolitions have included a structure built on the Osman Sagar lake by the brother of ex-Union minister and senior Congress leader MM Pallam Raju from Andhra Pradesh. Some activists have appreciated this, given that the catchment area of Osman Sagar (also called Gandipet here) has seen widespread encroachment over the years.
However, many have also been sceptical of HYDRA, pointing out legal red flags.
For example, some of the encroachments came up right under the government’s nose earlier. Even if some came up in the last 10 years under the previous BRS government, the encroachment problem goes back to when Telangana was part of Andhra Pradesh, which the Congress ruled from 2004-14.
Several structures were built with government permission, and now the state is overlooking that fact. I believe there is something called ‘due process’ for course correction.
An acquaintance of mine had leased a property on one of these “encroached” areas around the Osman Sagar lake catchment, investing around Rs 10 lakh in the space for his business. The government bulldozed it as part of this drive, labelling it an encroachment, but the question arises: why is it always the last person in the link who gets punished?
If something is built illegally but it gets an electricity connection, is it not then legitimised by the state itself? And if the government bulldozes a structure it has legitimised, that’s going to raise serious questions. In fact, many home buyers who paid good money to builders are now in a quandary, especially in areas where buildings were earlier marked to be constructed in the off-limits Full Tank Level (FTL) areas.
Moreover, there is the larger question of building permission. HYDRAA can easily demolish structures to protect lakes, but what about the government officials who gave permissions—possibly illegally—for such structures to be built? Are all departments going to be pulled up?
Political ramifications
HYDRAA’s demolitions have also left some wondering if the bulldozing is politically motivated. According to the political buzz, Revanth Reddy was reportedly planning to get most of the BRS MLAs to his side. Since the plan did not work—out as only 10 out of 39 jumped ship, now necessitating by-elections—some believe HYDRAA could also be used to get the others to follow, given that almost every politician has some stake in real estate.
Notably, earlier this month, deputy chief minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka released a list of water bodies that have been encroached upon between 2014 and 2023, when the BRS (formerly TRS) was in power.
Even a few within the Congress have spoken against HYDRAA, but one party particularly unhappy with the agency is the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), led by Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi.
AIMIM has a history of being close to whoever is in power, and it had cosied up to the BRS happily until it lost power in last year’s Assembly elections. And after the Congress under Revanth Reddy came to power, Owaisi quickly shifted allegiances, even asking Muslims to vote for the Congress in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
However, the AIMIM is very unhappy with HYDRAA. This stems from the fact that the agency has been clearing encroachments from the Musi River’s banks, especially in the Old City, where most of those who were forced to vacate their homes were Muslims. The river redevelopment project led to the state government shifting thousands of people to state-built 2BHK homes—a move which has also have come under severe criticism.
While all of this raises several questions about HYDRAA’s functioning, the biggest question here is whether our lakes will truly be revived. A case in point is the historic Hussain Sagar lake, which was built in the 1560s, even before Hyderabad was founded. Until the 1930s, it was the city’s primary drinking water source.
Post independence, the government began pumping in the city’s waste, turning the lake into a sewage dump. More importantly, the lake has also been encroached upon reducing it to two-thirds of its size. And guess what? HYDRAA’s office functions right on the banks of the lake. So, will they clean it up and remove encroachments—including a temple and a mosque— there too? So far, it doesn’t seem like it.
One can give Revanth Reddy full points for shaking up the political situation within just a year of coming to power, but his actions with HYDRAA have left some serious questions unanswered, especially regarding the selective nature of the work undertaken.
Yunus Lasania is a Hyderabad-based journalist whose work primarily focuses on politics, history and culture. Views are personal.
(Edited by Asavari Singh)
It’s shameful that The Print lends it’s platform to those who are batting on behalf of their friends – friends who acquired illegal real estate through dubious means.
Revanth Reddy deserves applause for his actions vis-a-vis removal of encroachment.
Mr. Lasania would rather do well to focus on the garlic business.