![GHMC demolished illegal road encroachments on Chintal Basthi main road on Wednesday, January 22.]()
Hyderabad: The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) has been on a demolition spree on the Chintal Basti main road connecting Khairatabad with Masab Tank/Banjara Hills since Tuesday, January 21, which ended on Wednesday, January 22.
The reason for the demolition was that most of the shops, buildings, and residential houses on Chintal Basti main road had encroached upon the footpath and road.
The demolitions were carried out amid heavy police presence after the GHMC’s south zone commissioner received complaints from the traffic police that the road had shrunk due to encroachments.
According to GHMC town planning officer Sunitha who was overseeing the demolitions on Wednesday evening, the road was supposed to be 60-feet, but because of indiscriminate encroachment by the local shops and houses, traffic flow has been severely impacted. The GHMC’s demolition drive was taken up on the traffic police’s complaint.
However, the shopkeepers and residents were shattered by the demolitions of encroachments, including ramps and steps leading to their shops, which were scooped out by JCBs in the drive throughout the day.
Tens of kiosks, pan shops, chicken centers, flower shops, and footwear shops among many other stores were mercilessly demolished during the drive.
The shopkeepers informed Siasat.com that they were neither warned about the demolition nor were they given any prior notice.
“Had they given us a week, we could have gathered our material. But they just didn’t give us any chance to even speak,” said the owner of a hardware plumbing store, Asif Mohammed. His material was not only seized but he was also fined Rs 3,000 by GHMC for littering and placing material on the road.
Mohammed Zakir, a resident of Chintal Basti used to feed his family by running a small chicken center outside a dargah on the main road. His temporary shop (booth), along with other shops was demolished, pushing his family on the road. He was seen shifting whatever was left from the debris of his shop to a nearby scrap dealer.
“We don’t eat gold. We don’t even eat fine-grain rice. We live on ration and four families used to depend on this one shop. In this government, the rich are growing richer and the lower-middle class is plunging into poverty. KCR government was better. he didn’t trouble the poor,” Zakir told Siasat.com in polished English.
He claimed to have suffered a loss of up to Rs 1,30,000 due to the demolition of his shop.
It is a fact that almost every shop on Chintal Basti main road has encroached into the road, without even leaving space for building a footpath. It includes big showrooms, restaurants, beauty parlours, supermarkets, apartments, buildings, and more. A blanket application of the medicine called ‘demolition’ was given to everyone.
“We built our house in 1978, and in 1996 we gave 50 sq yds of our property to the government when it wanted to expand the 40 sq ft road to 60 sq ft. However, the cement road was built only in 2017. Even after the construction of the road, they left the ramp leading to our house intact because our area fell inside a curve which didn’t affect the road in any way. Today they are demolishing our steps/ramp, and tomorrow if they want to expand the road to 100 ft they may demolish our houses,” said Lakshmi.
The owner of another building stated that they had built the ramps because during the monsoons the entire road was flooded up to waist-level and his ramp acted as a shelter for the passersby. “They were alse essential for us to enter their house without getting caught in the flood water,” they added.
MLAs’ pleas go unheard
It was a day of political drama in Chintal Basti as Khairatabad Congress MLA Danam Nagender and Nampally AIMIM MLA Majid Hussain, who share the vote bank in the basti that falls under both constituencies, extended their support to the residents only on Wednesday, the second day of the demolition.
Despite Danam Nagender urging the GHMC officials to halt the demolitions till chief minister A Revanth Reddy returned from Davos, the GHMC officials paid little heed to him and carried the demolitions.
Majid Hussain made a temporary sit-in, argued with the GHMC officials, cursed Feroze Khan, his political opponent from Congress, and left the scene.
“There is nothing we can do except stay silent and let them carry on the demolition. If we utter anything they may demolish the entire shop,” said a tensed shop owner Asif Mohammed.
He also claimed that GHMC officials took away 22 tires and 2 drums from the shopkeeper adjacent to his shop, as they were placed on the road. “After ten days of dull business because of Sankranthi, we thought we could finally make some business. But it has all been destroyed,” he added.
According to the town planning officer, the debris will be removed overnight on Wednesday, and a new road would be laid in the area which has been cleared of encroachments.
Get the latest updates in Hyderabad City News, Technology, Entertainment, Sports, Politics and Top Stories on WhatsApp & Telegram by subscribing to our channels. You can also download our app for Android and iOS.
