The Hyderabad Disaster Response and Assets Monitoring and Protection Agency (HYDRAA), the brainchild of Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy, is sending shockwaves across Telangana. Armed with a mandate to go after structures constructed in the full-tank levels and buffer zones of lakes in Hyderabad, it has shaken up the city’s rich and powerful by demolishing the N-Convention Centre of actor Nagarjuna.
This sort of action should have been taken long ago, as Hyderabad has been facing a flood-like situation every monsoon, with one of the main reasons being encroachment of lakes. There are about 600 lakes within the city’s Outer Ring Road. Over four decades, the total area of the lakes has shrunk 61 percent.
The initial buzz was that HYDRAA’s purpose was to target former IT minister and BRS leader K T Rama Rao’s alleged farm house. But following a fierce counter-attack from the opposition, the CM made his intentions clear—it is to clean up encroachments. The authorities have already reclaimed about 46 acres. Among those who faced the music were former Union minister M M Pallam Raju’s brother and two legislators.
Notices have also been slapped on educational institutions of BRS MLA Chamakura Malla Reddy’s son-in-law M Rajasekhar Reddy, and AIMIM’s floor leader Akbaruddin Owaisi. The CM’s brother and many others have also been put on notice. What is striking is that most of the encroachments have been done by influential people including politicians of all hues. Some of their farm houses were found to be discharging sewage into water supplying reservoirs.
Naturally, there is a groundswell of support from the people. But HYDRAA should not become a reflection of its homonymous mythical monster and act post-haste just because it has a carte blanche. The high court did not find fault with the demolition drive but cautioned the government to follow due procedure. One cannot but agree. Action cannot be hasty or selective, and no commoner or student should be inconvenienced.
The demolitions may be good optics, but a permanent solution should be found to prevent further encroachments and action taken against erring officials. The process of issuing permissions needs to be coordinated. There could be a centralised mechanism for inspection before issuing clearances for constructions, particularly if they are near lakes. The scope for corruption in issuing permissions should be checked, too.