Hyderabad: Land acquisition delays road widening works

• The road widening works in Shalibanda were started in May 2016

• A total of 170 properties were acquired, out of which only 130 were demolished and remaining were kept pending

• Around 8 properties belonging to Wakf board are yet to be demolished

• Some of the properties in area belonging to government have been encroached during 1990s

Shalibanda: The road-widening works from Himmatpura in Shalibanda to Doodh Bowli in Hussaini Alam via Fateh Darwaza towards Mir Wazeer Ali Masjid hit roadblock allegedly due to delay of authorities in acquisition of about 40 properties on the stretch. The demolition works which were to be completed in 2018, is standstill.

According to officials, the road-widening of about 2 km stretch was undertaken by GHMC with an aim to provide a better connectivity to the important localities of Shalibanda.

Speaking on the delay, Mohammed Ahmed, Vice President Minority Cell, TDP, said, "The road widening works were started in May 2016. Around 70 per cent of the demolition works, which were started in 2017, have been completed, it was to be completed by 2018. A total of 170 properties were acquired, out of which only 130 were demolished and remaining were kept pending. Around 45 cheques of land acquisition were pending, and the GHMC had been neglecting this issue for several months and works have stopped for the past six months," said Mohammed Ahmed.

He also said that, the demolishing works were done only from Himmatpura to Fateh Darwaza and till Dhoodhbowli via Mir Wazeer Ali Masjid road-widening works was pending. Even in this stretch around 8 properties were yet to be demolished which belongs to Wakf board and still the authorities had not approached the TS wakf board for acquisition. The works were being delayed by these properties, he pointed out.

He also said that, "Some of the properties in area belong to government which was encroached during 1990s. The three properties at Himmatpura in Shalibanda are encroached, where there was a government toilet.

After the encroachment many representations were given to the higher officials regarding the land by locals and in 2007 eviction notice was also issued by Bahadurpura MRO. In 2017, GHMC issued a notice to vacate the property for the road-widening works in area. But since then the property owners are not ready to vacate and the works of road widening have stopped."

The officials need to take immediate action against the property owners who not only encroached upon the government land, but also not vacating for road widening works. He demanded that the works to be completed before Ramzan (Islamic month) even till the Fateh Darwaza. During Ramzan there will be a huge traffic jam and commuters may face inconvenience, he added.