Builders make hay while the sun shines

HYDERABAD: The Telangana Sakala Janula Samme has come as a boon to some unscrupulous builders and land owners at a time when the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) is focusing on curbing unauthorised constructions in the city.As the staff and officials of the GHMC have been on strike, there has been no monitoring by the town planning wing on unauthorised constructions. “Whenever complaints of illegal structures are received by the GHMC, the Enforcement Cell and the Emergency Team of the GHMC visit the places to demolish them,” chief city planner (CCP) GV Raghu said. But in the past one month, land owners have been going ahead with their own plans in all the 18 circles of the GHMC.A couple of days ago, a couple from Domalguda met GHMC commissioner MT Krishna Babu and lodged a complaint against their neighbour who was allegedly going ahead with a new construction without permission.The couple had earlier approached the officials concerned at the circle level but their pleas for action fell on deaf ears. Moreover, the land owner in question had allegedly threatened them with dire consequences if they continued to oppose him. Similarly, a resident of the Old City has also complained about the illegal construction of an extra floor in his neighbourhood. In his case, the officials did demolish the structure soon after receipt of the complaint.As circle offices are not functioning, a large number of complainants are rushing to the GHMC head-office to lodge complaints either with the commissioner, additional commissioner (Planning) or the CCP. As per procedure, the town planning wing staff and section officer of the respective area have to keep tabs on unauthorised structures and slap notices on builders and bring the issue to the notice of the assistant city planner. CCP Raghu said, “Once the strike is over, the corporation will initiate action against the erring land owners or builders.”