TRS Ministers, MLAs Involved In Land Grabbing: Revanth Reddy

Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) President & MP A Revanth Reddy has alleged that several TRS ministers, MLAs, corporators and their relatives were involved in land grabbing, illegal encroachments and constructions in Hyderabad and its outskirts.

In an open letter to Municipal Administration Minister K T Rama Rao on Monday, Reddy alleged that many ruling party leaders had encroached upon government lands and lakes while carrying out illegal constructions in Greater Hyderabad.

He said that the authorities were taking no action despite being furnished documentary evidence against the TRS leaders.

The recent drive taken up by the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) against encroachments and illegal constructions was an eyewash as no action was being taken against any TRS leader, he claimed. He added that KTR was being a mute spectator to the activities by his party leaders.

Reddy pointed out that in Survey No. 488 in Jawahar Nagar, minister Ch Malla Reddy had encroached upon a land, illegally constructed a building, and also established a hospital.

Reddy said that getting permission to start a hospital was not easy as the management needed to fulfill several conditions. However, the minister got all the clearances to run a hospital in an illegal building constructed on an encroached piece of land. Who would be accountable if anything went wrong in that hospital, Reddy asked.

He said that a TRS leader had similarly grabbed 1,000 sq yards to illegally construct a commercial complex in Peerzadiguda. He had also violated the HMDA rules to construct a function hall.

Although both the issues were prominently exposed by the local media, no action had been taken against the leader, Reddy said.

"And in Devar Yamjal Survey No. 437, KTR's own family members have allegedly encroached upon temple land, and the same area was being used to run the TRS mouthpieces - Namasthe Telangana and Telangana Today. The building was constructed in violation of the Defence rules which prohibit structures beyond 45 feet. I personally visited the area and inspected the encroachments. Despite the matter getting exposed, the HMDA authorities have taken no action although they have notified the building as illegal," Reddy added.

Similarly, a company owned by a minister's relative had constructed luxury villas near Sunnam Cheruvu in Guttala Begumpet, Reddy alleged. In order to escalate the prices of those luxury villas, the GHMC had illegally constructed a road on the lake itself, he claimed. He said that the lake was spread across 32 acres, and as per GO 168, any water body spread on more than 25 acres would have a buffer zone of 30 metres. However, the GHMC itself constructed a road on the lake to benefit the minister's relative, Reddy lamented.

In Suraram, TRS Minister Malla Reddy, his son Bhadra Reddy and five others had blocked the passage to 20 guntas of land owned by a woman named Shyamala Devi while constructing a hospital, Reddy said. The woman had lodged a complaint with the Dundigal police station alleging threat to her life by the minister and his men, who wanted her to sell her land, Reddy said.

Reddy alleged that KTR was not taking any action against the irregularities of the TRS leaders. Except for an occasional harmless intervention by the officials, no action was taken against any of the land grabbers who belonged to the ruling party, he claimed.

"Why are you not stopping those irregularities? Do you have a share or stake in those dealings?" he asked KTR.

The TPCC President demanded that stern action be taken against the TRS leaders who were involved in the land grabbing and illegal constructions in Greater Hyderabad before the end of the ongoing Parliament session. Else, the Congress workers would launch a serious agitation against the activities of the TRS leaders, he warned.