HYDRA Act likely in Oct

Hyderabad: In tune with the state government’s decision to delegate extraordinary powers to the Hyderabad Disaster Response and Asset Protection Agency (HYDRA), the proposed new HYDRA Act is likely to make it mandatory to seek the agency’s permission to construct residential as well as commercial complexes.

While the Law department is giving finishing touches to the HYDRA Bill, official sources said new buildings should seek HYDRA clearance along with no objection certificate (NOC) from the local municipal bodies in the GHMC area.

“The HYDRA permission is a must to construct buildings once the state government adopted the Bill which is being introduced in the special session of the state Assembly in October this year,” top officials said, adding that the role of HYDRA was not only to demolish the illegal structures in the government lands and in the FTL and buffer zones at the lakes, ponds and other water bodies in the city limits, but also to prevent the illegal constructions.

Hence HYDRA would be given some powers on the lines of the GHMC which is the main authority to issue NOCs for building construction. “The absolute powers which are being given to HYDRA included the inspection of the areas where the big constructions take place in the periphery of the water bodies which are already on the verge of extinction due to large-scale encroachments,” officials said. They said the new Act would empower HYDRA to visit the construction sites and inspect whether any deviation took place against the environmental rules and protection of water bodies.

The draft Bill will be sent to the CM for final approval soon and include some more objectives if the Chief Minister recommended, the officials said.

The government is also proposing to create three zones – Hyderabad, Cyberabad and Rachakonda Commissionerates and appoint SP-level officials as in-charges to HYDRA. The new Act will also empower HYDRA to seize the entire land where the illegal structures are constructed after the demolition. The agency will also enjoy the authority to handover such lands to the local bodies or auction them in the open market.