TRS Ministers, MLAs brazenly encroaching lands: Revanth Reddy

Hyderabad: Alleging that several Ministers, TRS MLAs, corporators and their relatives were involved in land grabbing, illegal encroachments and constructions in Hyderabad and its outskirts, the Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) president, A Revanth Reddy, on Monday demanded the government to take action on them.

In an open letter to Municipal Administration Minister KT Rama Rao on Monday, Revanth said that the authorities were not taking any action despite furnishing documentary evidence against the TRS leaders. He said Minister KTR was acting as a mute spectator to those illegal activities carried out by his party leaders. The recent drive taken up by the GHMC against encroachments and illegal constructions was an eyewash as no action was taken against any TRS leader, he said.

The State Congress chief also pointed out that in Survey No 488 in Jawahar Nagar, Minister Ch Malla Reddy allegedly encroached upon a land, illegally constructed a building and also established a hospital. He said getting permission to start a hospital was not easy as the management needs to fulfill several conditions. However, the Minister got all the clearances to run a hospital in an illegal building constructed on an encroached piece of land. Who will be accountable if anything goes wrong in that hospital? he asked.

Similarly, Revanth alleged a ruling TRS party leader grabbed 1,000 sq yards to illegally construct a commercial complex in Peerzadiguda. He also violated the HMDA rules to construct a function hall. Although both the issues were prominently exposed by the local media, no action has been taken against him, he said.

In Devar Yamjal Survey No 437, KTR's family members have allegedly encroached upon temple land and the same was being used to run TRS mouthpieces - Namasthe Telangana and Telangana Today dailies. He said the building was constructed in violation of Defence rules which prohibit structures beyond 45 feet. He said despite the matter getting exposed, the HMDA authorities took no action although they notified the building as illegal. Similarly, he said a company owned by a Minister's relative has constructed luxury villas near Sunnam Cheruvu in Guttala Begumpet. In order to escalate the prices of those luxury villas, the GHMC has illegally constructed a road on the lake itself. He said that lake was spread across 32 acres and as per GO 168, any water body spread on more than 25 acres would have a buffer zone of 30 metres. However, he said that the GHMC itself constructed a road on the lake to benefit the Minister's relative.

Revanth alleged that Minister KTR was not taking any action against the irregularities of TRS leaders. Except for occasional intervention by the officials, no action was taken against the land grabbers who belong to the ruling party. "Why are you not stopping those irregularities? Do you have a share or stake in those dealings?" he asked Rao, stating that the Congress party workers would launch serious agitation against the illegal encroachments and constructions by the TRS leaders.