Visakhapatnam: As part of the Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation’s (GVMC) action plan to place a check on encroachments, operation Life to Urban Green Spaces (LUNGS) gets initiated in the city. Several stretches of open spaces that fall under the GVMC limits have been encroached upon. In some areas, political leaders’ encroached reserved open spaces and constructed commercial structures. As a result, locals in many colonies are facing difficulties.

Earlier, a number of colony welfare associations have brought the issue to the attention of the GVMC authorities through various representations. Following detailed discussions with the concerned officials, GVMC Commissioner Ketan Garg and City Mayor Peela Srinivasa Rao decided to get the city rid of such encroachments.

As part of the exercise, the encroached structures were identified zone-wise. In the first phase, 15 reserved open spaces across the city which were illegally occupied in various approved layouts were taken into account. The Commissioner instructed GVMC Chief City Planner A Prabhakar Rao to take action at the earliest in this regard.

Further, the Mayor informed that a review meeting was held recently at the GVMC head office along with the Commissioner to assess the status of open spaces across all zones. During the meeting, it was observed that open spaces in several layouts were encroached.

Following the instructions of the Mayor and GVMC Commissioner, town planning department officials, led by Chief City Planner A Prabhakar Rao, launched a focused initiative under the banner of operation LUNGS.

Encroachments at Sangivalasa, Prashanthi Nagar, Teachers Layout, DRK Raju Township layout, Madhurawada, ASR Nagar, East Point Colony, HB Colony, Nakkavanipalem layout, Marripalem layout, Lankelapalem, Shivaji Nagar and Godavari Township were identified. The exercise of demolishing is in various stages in several colonies.

Talking about LUNGS, the Chief City Planner informed that they have already identified encroachments in some other open spaces in the city, while there are some court litigations which need to be cleared. The town planning officials, along with special teams, zonal commissioners, assistant city planners, department staff, and ward secretariat teams form part of the operation. The removal of encroachments is being executed with the support of police.