SCB resumes demolition drive

After a break of about three weeks and soon after the President completed his winter sojourn, Secunderabad Cantonment Board authorities resumed their demolition drive on Friday.

The board cracked the whip on three residential buildings at Busa Reddy Guda in Marredpally, which violated the building plan norms. The buildings were also being used for commercial activities-- a women's hostel was being run which was inhabited by 300 women.

Also, the original sanction was only for four buildings. But the owner and builder Prakash Babu constructed more than eight buildings and sold a few buildings for over a crore each. The Cantonment Board had issued notices to the violations earlier. The builder had moved the court earlier but the petition was dismissed subsequently.

The demolition was undertaken by Sujatha Gupta, CEO, SCB. She said that the board had given a month’s notice and requested the occupants to vacate the premises. As the tenants were all women, women police from the Marredpally Police Station were deployed to take control of the law and order situation.

Poornima, one of the owners of the building, said, “We had no idea about the serious violations by the builder. We purchased the house at a cost of Rs 1 crore and 20 lakh in good faith. SCB has said that it may consider levying a penalty so that the building can be regularised.

Dr Deepak Sarma, another owner, said, “We were not aware of violations by the landlord. But at the end of the day, we are the victims. The SCB should file criminal cases against the people who are responsible for our loss and force them to compensate us.”