GHMC demolition drive leaves many homeless

Long-time residents of Anjaiah Nagar and Sadiq Nagar of Gatchibowli in Hyderabad are mostly people who sold their agricultural lands to buy residential plots to build their own houses in the city, now face a totally dark future.

It is the end of the road for many residents as they face eviction from their homes where they have resided for over three decades.

Tension prevailed for a while at Anjaiah Nagar in the light of the GHMC officials operation to demolish illegal buildings.

One affected resident doused himself with kerosene in an attempt to commit suicide. However, police intervened and took him into custody. The officials who launched 'Operation Demolition’ began work right from 6.30 am on Monday.

The authorities demolished 23 buildings which were built on government land illegally amidst tight police security in spite of stiff opposition from the residents. It is learnt that as many as 148 houses were found constructed illegally in the area.

Speaking to Sakshi, many of the residents who lost their houses in the demolition said “we bought houses by selling lands in our villages. We are at the end of the road now," said with a sense of utter despair.

Claiming that they are performing their duties, one of the GHMC officials said that he had issued notices to the house owners. “The eviction drive was taken up after the deadline. It is wrong on the part of the people to build houses on government land. We have not touched the houses whose owners have got stay orders from the court,” the official said.

As the residents intensified their protest, the officials stopped eviction temporarily.

- Siva@sakshipost