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10,000 encroachments to be removed along Musi river
The Telangana government on Wednesday will soon began the removal of 10,000-odd dwellings and commercial structures that came up all along the Musi river in Hyderabad and adjoining districts.
The Telangana government on Wednesday will soon began the removal of 10,000-odd dwellings and commercial structures that came up all along the Musi river in Hyderabad and adjoining districts, officials said.
An official statement said a latest survey conducted by the revenue department along the Musi river revealed that there are 2,116 structures on the river bed and another 7,850 in the buffer zone.
Municipal administration and urban development principal secretary Dana Kishore, who is also the managing director of Musi River Front Development Corporation, told reporters that the government has prepared an action plan to clear the constructions that came up along the river course.
“As per the directions of the chief minister, we are going to provide rehabilitation of the evacuees of the Musi river front in double bedroom houses. The government has allotted nearly 16,000 double bedroom houses in different parts of the city to provide accommodation for the people who will be evacuated from the dwellings along the river,” Kishore said.
In the first phase, as many as 1,600 occupied houses in the Musi riverbed will be removed, with the residents relocated. Those living in the buffer zone will receive compensation for their structures in accordance with the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation, and Resettlement Act, 2013.
As part of the exercise, officials from the Hyderabad Disaster Response and Asset protection Agency (HYDRAA) began moving bulldozers to the riverfront area on Wednesday to demolish the illegal structures. The exercise is likely to begin by Saturday.
Simultaneously, four teams of officials belonging to revenue department from Hyderabad, Ranga Reddy and Medchal-Malkajgiri districts started surveying the constructions along the Musi river to conduct door-to-door survey of the people living in these illegal constructions and negotiate with them to vacate their houses and shops, which would be demolished.
Kishore assured that the demolition exercise would begin only after relocating the people from the river front to the allotted double bedroom houses. “We have sent proposals for the rehabilitation of people from the buffer zone to the government. Those who have clear title deeds would be paid suitable compensation as per the 2013 act,” he said.
On Tuesday evening, chief minister A Revanth Reddy held a high-level review meeting to discuss the modalities in carrying out demolition of structures along the Musi river and rehabilitating the people from there. He announced the allocation of 16,000 double-bedroom homes for such families.
Reddy directed that not a single family should be left homeless and must either be allotted double-bedroom houses or provided with suitable alternatives, an official statement from the CMO said.
The chief minister directed officials to collect detailed information on the eligible poor living in the Musi catchment area, including those residing around encroached lakes and canals in Hyderabad, who could be allotted double bedroom flats or assisted otherwise.
