Over 23k sq yards govt land saved by GHMC

Hyderabad: The extent of land saved from encroachers by the Assets Protection

Cell

(APC) has revealed large-scale encroachment in the city.

Since the launch of the APC in July 2020, the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC), with the help of residents who tipped officials, was able to save 23,340 square yards of government property from land grabbers. The total value of the properties that were eyed by the land sharks and later protected by the APC, runs into crores of rupees. Most of the land saved till date is lung spaces marked as parks and open spaces in layouts.

The biggest pieces of land that have been protected so far are 4,400 square yards of open space at Housing Board Colony, Bahadurpura followed by 2,006 square yards of open land in Father Balaiah Nagar in Alwal.

As per GHMC records, on an average, the cell receives atleast 15 calls per day. “All callers do not report encroachments, some of them are enquiry calls too,” said a GHMC official.

The APC’s investigation also found that most land grabbers encroach upon land with political support. In several cases, before occupying land, the land grabbers had approached people in construction business, local leaders and residents from the same locality. “In several cases, huts surfaced overnight on the pieces of land that were sold for a premium. The probe also revealed that raising temporary structures and huts was a part of the encroachers’ plan,” said a GHMC official.

Residents can report cases of land encroachment on the toll free number 1800-599-0099, between 10 am and 6 pm on all working days. “Citizens can either provide their details or can lodge the complaint anonymously. The details of the complainant will not be revealed,” said Viswajit Kampati, director, GHMC Enforcement, Vigilance and Disaster Management (EVDM) wing. According to EVDM officials, every complaint is assigned a unique complaint number and the complaint is forwarded to the assistant enforcement officer (AEO).