Three of the busiest commercial streets which lie in the heart of Secunderabad area are turning out to be ticking time bombs for citizens.
Around 120 single and multi-storied structures in Monda Market, General Bazar and Regimental Bazar are in dilapidated condition, according to GHMC. These structures, with ages ranging between 40 and 70 years, house a number of business establishments like clothes stores, vegetable markets, hotels and some are used as residences.
Most of these properties are frequented by scores of people during the day. Some have very visible cracks on them while others have water seeping through the roofs and side walls. In General Bazar there are 57 structures which have been marked for demolition and nine of these are protected due to court cases. In Monda Market, 31 structures have been identified as too weak to exist with only two properties stuck in legal tangles. In Regimental Bazar, all the 33 structures are free of court cases ready to be pulled down.
Even with a handful of court cases, demolishing these structures will be no easy task for the officials, thanks to a number of practical and technical issues. The foremost among them, by the officials own admission, is the stiff resistance from the occupants.
“Some issue threats and come to attack us when we even try to issue evacuation notices. Some of them even threaten suicide if their structure is demolished,” said one town planning official, unwilling to be identified. Adding to it is the tiff between owners and tenants which only makes the process more complicated.
Call it lack of manpower or the will, the GHMC too has its own drawbacks when it comes to acting on these structures. For instance, a number of residential and commercial properties in Naka Bazar and Pan Bazar in the General Bazar area had to be demolished in 2010 and a formal communication was also sent to the executive engineer concerned but no step has been taken since then.
In Regimental Bazar, the structural stability analysis of a few properties was referred to the engineering wing in 2003 but the report is still awaited. Shivaji Nagar and Chilkalguda areas have more than 50 dilapidated structures. Hari Chandana, Zonal Commissioner, North Zone pointed out that many a time, the occupants say that they had repaired their structures forcing the officials to again conduct a structural stability test leading to a delay. “We have demolished 50 structures in the last three months. Since we cannot demolish more than 10 a day, it will take time some time. Demolition drives are not only a costly affair but also needs planning since it is an operation where we require police protection,” she pointed out.
