Mission demolition under way in Gurukul Trust lands
Hyderabad : Acting on the direction of Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) officials initiated demolition of illegal constructions in the controversial Gurukul Trust lands in Madhapur. Amidst elaborate police security, the municipal officials started razing to the ground the buildings located between Survey No 11 and 37.
As many as 21 illegal structures, spread over 620 acres, were demolished. Ten teams from GHMC, armed with bulldozers and other heavy equipment launched the clearing operation to reclaim 620 acres of land in the prime locality.
Serilingampally MLA A Gandhi and his supporters intervened and tried to stop the demolition work. However, the police took them into preventive custody and later released.
Gandhi alleged that the GHMC officials were being selective in their demolitions. He said that the officials were leaving out the houses belonging to the Telangana Rasthra Samithi leaders and razing down other houses.
He demanded that the illegal buildings be regularised. The Gurukul Trust had large extent of lands and the government had granted exemption for the trust under the Urban Land Ceiling Act so that the Trust can continue to be the owner in spite of ULC act.
After allegations of lands being sold away surfaced, the State government withdrew the exemption and took over the possession of the land.
Meanwhile, several persons including influential people, including politicians and bureaucrats illegally encroached upon the property. Swamy Ayyappa Society got 71 acres of prime land in the area.
Many of the properties belong to people and companies from the Seemandhra region.
Back in September 2012, a division bench of Andhra Pradesh High Court had declared Gurukul Trust the absolute owner of the 625 acres of land in the area and asked the encroachers to compensate the trust. A recent government survey also revealed that in Ranga Reddy district alone, 17,513 acres of government land was encroached upon.
News Posted: 25 June, 2014
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