The Times of India              24.05.2013

70 illegal structures on road to airport cleared

HYDERABAD: In a drive against rampant encroachment in the Old City, the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) on Thursday cleared 70 structures which had mushroomed on pavements recently.

The drive was conducted along the Phisalbanda-Riyasat Nagar stretch with the help of police to thwart protests from the occupiers. The area comes under Circle IV of the GHMC limits. The drive began early in the morning and continued till afternoon.

According to GHMC officials, encroachments along the same stretch were cleared around three months ago.

However, within a matter of a few days the structures were back on the pavements. The demolished temporary structures included shops selling mobile phone accessories, leather goods and luggage.

"The GHMC officials didn't serve us any notice, neither did they inform us orally that our shops would be demolished. When we protested they asked us to go to the GHMC head office and lodge complaints there. No public representative came to our rescue," said Mohammed Aslam, one of those affected.

According to GHMC zonal commissioner (South) N Ravi Kiran, the illegal structures were posing a hindrance to the smooth flow of traffic and blocking the path of pedestrians.

"We had to take the assistance of the police to avoid any law and order problems. The strengthening of the junction is very important as the stretch leads to the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Shamshabad," he said.

It was in January that the GHMC had taken up road-widening and encroachment clearing drive along the Zohrabee-DRDL junction stretch.

Around 340 notices were sent to property owners by the town planning wing explaining to them that their properties would be acquired so as to make way for an 80-feet wide road.