Eatala questions HYDRA’s indiscriminate, unilateral demolition drives

Hyderabad: Malkajgiri MP Eatala Rajender asked the rank and file of the party to stand by the common people if the ongoing demolition drive of HYDRA adversely affected them.

Addressing the party men during the membership drive on Sunday, he said several ponds and lakes in Hyderabad city have disappeared. Several constructions have come up in the patta lands, located adjacent to the canals, lakes and rivers following an increase in the land prices. He said that the State government should pay adequate compensation to the people if it wants to take back the patta lands adjacent to the water bodies given to the poor.

Encroachments of water bodies might not have taken place had the governments paid proper attention, he added.

Eatala Rajender said that a disputed 5-acre land next to Saroor Nagar has the same survey number within an area of 100 acres. People have built houses. Following the prohibition imposed on the entire area was troubling people there as they can not avail of a bank loan and sell their apartments, he said.

The Malkajgiri MP said that FTL does not mean government land as there are also patta lands in it, and the issue should be discussed, he stressed. The BJP MP said If the government claims every structure built in violation of GO No. 111 is illegal, then the lands given to the Shamshabad Airport and the towers built there would also fall within the preview of GO No.111. "There is a need to discuss the issues related the GO No.111, and the GO should not be used as a political weapon," he said.

He further asked that there is a view that the government can grab anyone's land or demolish any structure. How far is it correct? He recalled that earlier, several committees were appointed to inquire into Devarayamjal lands following complaints alleging that they were temple lands. However, every committee appointed concluded that they were not temple lands.

He said that it would be dangerous to support what Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy is doing. "How could the government claim lands after giving permissions 30 years ago for the constructions. Why BRS and LRS were given, we should question if the government comes to touch the lands of the poor and takes unilateral actions," he said. Also, the BJP MP said that Congress is not a newly born party, and that it knew the status of these lands for decades.