Green mosque panel to negotiate on road widening

HYDERABAD: With widening of Road No. 2, Banjara Hills, becoming imminent, the Green Mosque (Masjid-e-Hussaini) committee has finally decided to negotiate with GHMC.
Masjid-e-Hussaini muthawali Syed Shah Yusuf Hussaini had written a letter to the GHMC commissioner on June 18 requesting that the notice inviting their objection to the taking over of the land be kept in abeyance for two to three weeks as the matter (to part with the land for road widening) is "under active negotiation with the town planning wing".
The GHMC's land acquisition wing had sent notices (Form 3 bearing No. B/346/2013) to the mosque committee on May 21 to submit their objections by June 20, 3 pm failing which they would take over the property by invoking the Land Acquisition Act. If the road is widened, the mosque might lose 650 square yards of its 2,000 sq yards of land.
GHMC is firm on widening the road as the mosque has become a major bottleneck. Traffic jams are a common sight in the area, mainly during peak hours. Though the plan is to widen the road from Road No. 2, Banjara Hills to KBR Park to 100 ft, only 20 to 25 ft road width was available near the mosque. Chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy, who commutes frequently on the road, also gave his nod to widen the road by invoking the Land Acquisition Act,1894 a couple of months ago. STOI reported on May 7, 2013, that GHMC was getting ready to take over a portion of the mosque under the LA Act for providing relief from traffic chaos on Road No. 2, Banjara Hills and the relevant notices were served on May 20.
"As per the request of the muthawali, the notice will be kept in abeyance for three weeks. If the negotiations fail with the town planning wing, GHMC will go ahead with land acquisition process," GHMC land acquisition officer N Suryakala told STOI.
Meanwhile, the GHMC land acquisition wing has also served notices on the owners of a property opposite the Green Mosque, which belongs to the family of former city police commissioner RP Singh. GHMC is planning to take over 153 sq yards from the property bearing No. 8-2-268/2/B/5. However, property owner Harvinder Kaur, family member of RP Singh and the tenant of the building, filed objections with the corporation stating that it had acquired about 60 ft land on two occasions since 1985 and had not paid any compensation to the owners both times. was getting ready for another acquisition. On the two earlier occasions, no compensation was paid to the owners.
"GHMC failed to convince the masjid committee and acquired our property. Now, the authorities are seeking more land for widening. As a result, the whole building will get affected," Harvinder Kaur said in the letter.
The town planning officials said earlier the property owner had claimed additional FSI instead of cash compensation and this time the corporation was ready to pay cash compensation for 153 sq yards, to be acquired, as per prevailing government rates which comes to about Rs 60,000 per sq yard.