Demolition of illegal houses begins in Musi river bed

Hyderabad, Oct 1 (IANS) Authorities in Hyderabad on Tuesday began demolition of vacated houses that had been built illegally along the Musi River bed for the Musi Riverfront Development Project.

The houses which were marked recently during the survey of encroachments and were already vacated by the residents, were being demolished in Malakpet constituency.

The demolition was taken up in Shankar Nagar Basti in Chaderghat.

The workers were pulling down the illegal structures marked with “RB-X” as officials from the Revenue Department were supervising the demolition amid tight security by the police.

Officials said only those houses were being demolished whose owners voluntarily vacated and agreed to shift to double-bedroom houses constructed by the government.

The revenue authorities also arranged vehicles to shift the belongings of such residents.

There are about 150 houses which were marked in the recent survey in Shankar Nagar whose residents have agreed to shift.

However, some residents objected to the authorities launching the demolition even before they could finish shifting and said they wanted two to three days to move to the two-bedroom houses.

Some residents were also complaining that the double bedroom houses allotted to them were not completely ready.

The Telangana government is going ahead with the demolition despite opposition from many residents in the river bed and buffer zone.

Opposition parties are backing the people and demanding that the government withdraw the plan to demolish the encroachments.

Last week, the revenue authorities conducted a survey of houses and other structures all along the Musi River in Hyderabad and adjoining districts in preparation for the Musi Riverfront Development Project.

Several teams of officials conducted the survey in the river bed and the buffer zone in Hyderabad, Rangareddy and Medchal-Malkajgiri districts and marked the houses.

At a few places, residents raised objections to the survey and shouted slogans against the government.

They showed their property registration documents and said they had been living in the area for decades and paying property tax, electricity and water bills.

The state government on September 25 issued orders allotting approximately 15,000 double-bedroom housing units for rehabilitation of the eligible economically poor families that will be displaced owing to the Musi Riverfront Development Project.

The officials identified about 10,000-odd illegal dwellings and commercial structures for demolition.

Earlier, a preliminary survey conducted by the revenue department revealed that there are 2,116 illegal structures on the river bed and another 7,850 in the buffer zone.

--IANS

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