GHMC pulls down 24 dilapidated buildings

The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) has directed officials to take up special drives to demolish dilapidated structures in the city .

As many as 54 crumbling structures were demolished ahead of the rains. This week, the GHMC demolished 24 structures in all the circles of GHMC. Six shops were demolished in Kavadiguda on Saturday . “We issued prior notice to vacate the place before razing the structures. The demolition was carried out peacefully in the presence of police. Apart from being in a dilapidated condition, the structures were also encroaching the road. Another shop adjacent to these will be razed within a week,“ said Keshav Reddy , assistant city planner, Musheerabad.

Apart from this, dilapidated structures in Mettuguda and Secunderabad and a nala encroachment in LB Nagar were razed, according to the officials.“The special demolition drive will continue till the end of monsoon. Our special focus is on unauthorised structures near nalas and water bodies,“ said GHMC chief city planner S Devender Reddy . There were as many as 2,112 dilapidated structures within GHMC limits. Out of this, 1,166 structures have been demolished and 151 structures are rectified and repaired, GHMC officials said. The civic body has also identified 1,002



properties that are critical bottlenecks on nalas.

The GHMC officials have started serving notices to building owners as the court has ordered to carry out demolitions only after serving notices.

“Caveats have been filed in the lower court so that the demolition process is carried forward without obstacles.The notices prepared are self explanatory . Whenever there is no rain, we will carry out construction of retaining walls near nalas,“ said Devender Reddy .

Apart from the demolition drive, the GHMC has directed officials of the town planning wing of GHMC to visit areas where excavation of cellars is being taken up. The GHMC has already directed builders to stop all excavation work during monsoon.“If the excavation is in the initial stages, it will be stopped immediately . If the cellar is already excavated, it shall be ensured that all precautionary measures are taken, including soil strengthening and structural stability of retaining walls as per the standards,“ said a top official from the GHMC town planning department.

Officials have also been directed to visit sloped terrains and alert the occupants living in such locations about the necessity of constructing retaining walls.