HYDERABAD: Stating that they were constructed in violation of the rules, the Mahbubnagar municipality on Thursday razed 75 houses located in Christian Colony in the town.
According to BRS leaders, most of these houses were owned by the poor and middle class.
The officials pressed into service earthmovers after 2 am, when the residents were fast asleep, forcing the residents to spend the remainder of the night in the open.
The victims alleged that no notices were issued before the structures were demolished and claimed that they had been living in the same houses for several years and had even been paying property tax and had got electricity connections too.
They said that they constructed houses on patta lands and the previous Congress government had issued the pattas.
A woman showed her electricity meter under the debris and said that they had all requisite permissions for the houses. However, another woman said that she submitted an application under GO 58 for regularisation. Some of the residents have pattas and some others do not.
Bojja Naik, another resident, said that the officials demolished his house when he was in a hospital. He said that he constructed the house by taking loans and that he had two daughters.
Some others said that they got pattas in 2001 and no official raised any objection till now. Another victim said that around 500 police personnel came to their place before the demolition began.
Meanwhile, BRS leaders alleged that while the poor have become homeless overnight, several houses constructed by the rich and influential persons have been ignored by the civic body.