Hyderabad: HYDRAA to get separate police station to punish land grabbers

Hyderabad: In a first-of-its-kind initiative in the State, the Hyderabad Disaster Response and Assets Monitoring and Protection (HYDRAA) will soon establish a separate police station in Hyderabad to crack a whip on the violators involved in land grabbing, encroachment of government lands and traffic-related encroachments, said HYDRAA commissioner AV Ranganath.

Speaking to the NewsMeter, Ranganath said that officials from the revenue, fire, registration, irrigation, police and forest departments would be appointed at a separate police station, soon to be established by the HYDRAA.

HYDRAA has the authority to demolish illegal construction

The HYDRAA commissioner explained the procedures in place for HYDRAA to take action against encroachers.

“The public will send complaints about the encroachment of parks and lakes in their vicinity. The complaints will be accepted and an inquiry will be initiated. If any illegal constructions are identified during an enquiry, either we move for criminal prosecution or HYDRAA can authorise their demolition,” he said.

If the violators have obtained permission from any related government authority, HYDRAA will cancel their permissions and initiate stern action against the guilty officials. A vigilance report will be sent to the government. Moreover, we don’t even hesitate to name the officials as accused if they have joined hands with the encroachers and resorted to the irregularities, he added.

The police station for HYDRAA will handle criminal cases against violators and they would be sent to judicial custody, Ranganath added.

Citizens can approach HYDRAA with land grievances

“Our intention is to instil fear among the land grabbers and encroachers in and around Hyderabad through HYDRAA, irrespective of political affiliation. We are making an attempt to retrieve government lands, lakes and parks from encroachers and assure people that HYDRAA is an effective body to get their land grievances resolved,” the HYDRAA commissioner said.

Speaking about the strength and organisation of HYDRAA, Ranganath said, “We are requesting the State government to appoint over 3,500 employees, with 400 permanent employees and the rest outsourcing staff. We want the appointments done soon after GHMC’s EV&DM is upgraded into HYDRAA. Legal and technical experts will be engaged to prepare data through the GIS technology.”

“Apart from that, special teams will also be engaged to forecast weather on par with the protection of government lands, parks and lakes from the encroachers,” he added.

Coordination between departments crucial

When asked about how HYDRAA is going to handle the differences in the records of revenue and irrigation departments, he said that various maps would be employed to get accurate data.

Ranganath said, for instance, to decide the Full Tank Level (FTL) of a lake, the cadastral and terrestrial maps are used but they show different measurements. Hence, a final notification would be given for the FTL of a lake after gathering its historical data and examining the cadastral and terrestrial maps and the topographic sheets.

Recently, the Telangana High Court has directed the officials concerned to complete the FTL final notification within three months, he said.

What are the roles and responsibilities of the Assets Protection Wing?

- To protect assets of Local Bodies and Government such as parks, layout open spaces, playgrounds, lakes, nalas, land parcels, roads, carriageways, footpaths, etc from encroachments.

- Removal of lake encroachments in coordination with GHMC, other local bodies, HMDA, Irrigation department, Revenue department, etc.

- Coordination with local police for Assets Protection and necessary enforcement, etc.

- To inspect private premises for building and town planning regulation or removal of dilapidated structures endangering public safety, whenever such requests are received from government agencies like ULBs, UDAs and planning authorities. In the exercise of such powers, the HYDRAA authorities shall be deemed to be working under such ULBs, UDA and planning authorities, under the relevant Acts, Rules and Regulations of ULBs, UDA and planning authorities.

- To take penal action on the violations in connection with advertisements which are in deviation or not authorized vis-à-vis the permissions granted by the concerned Local Bodies and shared on a real-time database. In the exercise of such powers, the HYDRAA authorities shall be deemed to be working under such ULBs under the relevant Acts, Rules and Regulations of ULBs.