Deccan Chronicle            10.07.2013

Demolition pending for a year

Hyderabad: The
G block in Secretariat that accommodated the offices of former chief
ministers like Jalagam Vengal Rao and N.T. Rama Rao was identified as a
dilapidated building a year ago, but is yet to be demolished.

GHMC
engineers and town planners who took up a fresh survey of dilapidated
buildings from Tuesday, identified 157 more buildings in addition to the
274 already on their list. Of the new 157 identified, the G block,
located in the state Secretariat is one such.

“Our engineers
inspected the G Block building in the Secretariat and said that it has
to be demolished. We are writing to the Roads and Buildings Department
to demolish the building,” GHMC zonal commissioner (central zone)  Siva
Parvathi told this correspondent.

Presently, there is no office in
the G Block. Enquires revealed that the G Block was constructed during
the Nizam’s reign and was used as an administrative building for 50
years.

The High Court directed state government to take a decision
whether to conserve or demolish the building after a public interest
litigation was filed, stating it to be a heritage building. A state
government committee comprising experts in heritage conservation and
heritage lovers inspected the building and submitted a report that it
was not on the heritage list.

A panel led by the then chief
secretary Pankaj Dwivedi was set up to recommend what should be done.
Most of the members favoured its demolition and construction of a new
building in its place. The file was sent to the Chief Minister’s office
and a decision on it has been pending from almost a year.

GHMC demolishes twelve Buildings in just one day 

Hyderabad: A
day after the City Light Hotel building collapse, special teams of
Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation demolished 12 dilapidated
buildings, located at various places, in the city. Riding on the heat
generated by the City Light Hotel building collapse, the bull dozers of
GHMC faced little resistance although inmates of some of the buildings
complained that they were not given sufficient time to vacate.

This
is the first time, in the history of the municipal corporation, that 12
dilapidated buildings were demolished on a single day. The demolitions
will continue for a week. Citizen should cooperate with GHMC, the
officials appealed.

The GHMC officials continued to identify the
buildings going by its external appearance only. No engineering and wave
tests are being conducted to assess the internal fitness of the beams,
columns and ceilings or even the binding strength.