What is HYDRAA doing about its other goals like traffic coordination: HC

Senior IPS officer and HYDRAA Commissioner A.V. Ranganath was at the receiving end during the hearing of a writ petition by Justice K. Lakshman of Telangana High Court on Monday with the judge raising questions over the objectives of HYDRAA and its actions since it was constituted a couple of months ago.

When the judge sought to know for what purposes was HYDRAA constituted, Mr. Ranganath replied that disaster management and asset protection of local bodies were among them. Upon being asked by the judge to explain clause 7.4 of HYDRAA, which pertains to traffic co-ordination and management, the judge asked the Commissioner about what had the agency done so far to regulate traffic.

Even as Mr. Ranganath replied that a series of meetings were held with top police officials on the matter, the judge remarked that the agency had focussed more on demolitions and less on other objectives. “This was the opinion of people,” the judge said.

The judge also asked him to read out clause 11 of GO Ms. no. 99 (through which the agency was constituted). When the officer stated that the government should provide a policy to achieve the goals, the judge asked him ‘where is the policy?’. “When the agency’s governing body comprised the Chief Minister, Minister for Municipal Administration and Hyderabad Mayor, not having policy was unfair,” the judge said.

With the Commissioner stating that HYDRAA was in consultation with the National Remote Sensing Agency to identify encroachments of water bodies, the judge sought to know how many water bodies were there within Outer Ring Road limits. When the Commissioner replied that there were about 2,500 water bodies, the judge wanted to know for how many of them final notification fixing Full Tank Level was issued.

Referring to identification of illegal buildings and unauthorised structures, the judge said that in one case Petbasheerabad mandal revenue authorities informed the court that the entire land in the area belonged to the government. “In that case you have to demolish the police station and gram panchayat buildings built in Petbasheerabad,” the judge said.

Referring to illegal encroachments in Ameenpur and other areas, the Commissioner said there were strong people behind such activities. “Are they stronger than the State?”, the judge asked.

Published - September 30, 2024 08:37 pm IST