White paper on encroachment to silence Opposition

Hyderabad: The recent spate of demolitions by Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HYDRA) has generated political heat in the state. While the government claims that nearly 500 of the 920 identified lakes and tanks had been fully or partially encroached in the last 20 years, the opposition parties, particularly the BRS, felt that the government was targeting the pink party. The BRS alleged that HYDRA was being selective while demolishing allegedly illegal structures in the buffer zone of Osman Sagar and other places.

The BJP felt that the government was staging a high drama in the name of HYDRA. Union Minister G Kishan Reddy said permissions were given in the past for many during the Congress regime and now the Congress government was demolishing them. Reddy said if the structures were illegal how did the authorities concerned give permission, electricity and water connection, why did they collect taxes and why did they lay roads? If it is illegal then first the government should take action against all the officials who gave permissions.

In the backdrop of this, the state government has decided to release a white paper on the encroachment of nalas, ponds and other water bodies in the state particularly in the Greater Hyderabad limits. It was in the process of gathering the satellite images of each water body and its encroachments during the last 10 years. “The State Planning Development Society and TRAC under the State Finance Department have been collecting satellite images on a regular basis to know the total extent of land which has been occupied in the vicinity of ponds and water bodies,” a source said.

“The govt was suspecting BRS leaders constructed buildings and colleges in the occupied water bodies in Hyderabad and also in some districts,” he said adding that the Janwada farm house which was allegedly owned by a senior BRS leader was already under scrutiny following the allegations of encroachment of the catchment area of a water body in the area.

Deputy CM Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka said that the government was collecting satellite images on water bodies from the Remote Sensing Agency and action would be taken based on the outcome of the report. Officials said that more than 50 per cent of the catchment area of the majority water bodies was encroached upon in the Greater Hyderabad limits. The details of the illegal occupation of government lands would also be included in the white paper according to Revenue minister P Srinivas Reddy.