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GHMC doesn’t protect its property
Highlights
GHMC Doesn’t Protect its Property, Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation Properties. Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation that has its origins from the time of the Nizam has lands, complexes and properties in huge numbers.
Authorities at the GHMC don’t know where its properties are and are having a tough time tracing them. From the time of the Nizams, it has been a practice with the civic body to lease out properties at nominal rates, and over the time these leased lands have been encroached. According to Town Survey Lands Register (TSLR), these properties have been valued in thousands of crores. To top it, the lease agreements are missing. Six years ago, plans were made to prepare a database of the GHMCproperties and till date it hasn’t been completed
No proof or database with GHMC about its properties
• No clue where its properties are
• Leased lands are encroached either by the lessee or third party
• Lease records are missing
• Six years, yet no database
Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation that has its origins from the time of the Nizam has lands, complexes and properties in huge numbers. In 1973, the revenue department of the then Municipal Corporation Hyderabad (MCH) under the Town Survey Lands Register (TSLR) added more lands. For the upkeep of these lands, the estates wing was also started. But the practice to give land on lease for nominal prices continued. However, due to complacency on the part of the authorities these leased lands were gradually encroached, sometimes by the lessee and sometimes by a third party. On a pitiable note, the authorities at the GHMC say that the lease agreements were found missing.
Estates department was earlier under the Town Planning section of the GHMC, later it was made an independent division. Usually all the officers posted to this division were under deputation and they never took interest to sort out the mess. According to retired GHMC officials, sans the newly added areas old MCH has many a property, lands in Old City, Koti, Abids, Sultan Bazaar and Secunderabad areas.
When Teegala Krishna Reddy was the Mayor, the standing committee members demanded to set up a committee to find out the encroached lands. The task to survey the encroached properties of GHMC was given to a third party and the third party had thrown up the hands stating it was helpless and survey cannot be done. Later the authorities found out that 1,753 properties were encroached and estimated areas would be 15-20 acres. An inspection of the encroached areas saw huge villas and bungalows constructed on encroached lands.
“Officials at the revenue department aren’t co-operating with us. Without their co-operation we cannot identify the lands. Estimating the extent of land and the value is also difficult, as we do not have any records,” said a senior official in the estates department.
Though the GHMC has amended its rules in due course and made it clear that lease cannot be more than 25 years, the authorities are saying that it is not helpful in tackling encroachments.
“We are preparing a detailed list of properties with the GHMC and are compiling them in a database. This will help protect the properties. Regarding the encroached properties, we are seeking the help of the revenue department. However, lack of records is an impediment,” said Venkatarami Reddy, additional commissioner, estates.
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