The number of dilapidated buildings, identified by the special teams of Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC), needing immediate repairs to improve their structural stability in the capital has swelled to 628 from 500.
Post the City Light Hotel incident in Secunderabad, the GHMC had launched a drive to identify dilapidated buildings which are 50 years old, constructed with lime-mortar or mud-mortar and had only load bearing walls instead of pillars.
GHMC Commissioner M. T. Krishna Babu said nearly 286 dilapidated buildings have been demolished in various regions till date.
13 demolitions today
On Monday, 13 old buildings in parts of Azampura, Karmanghat, Alwal, Malkajgiri, Mahankali Street, Sultan Bazar, Kandikal Gate etc were demolished. “We are giving sufficient time for owners to carry out repairs. We want to assure them that there will be no harassment. But, they should realise they can’t divert attention and avoid taking up repairs quickly by unnecessarily complaining about official harassment,” he said.
He brushed aside allegations that municipal officials were targeting particular zones while leaving out others in the demolition drive. “There is no prejudice and our teams are identifying dilapidated buildings in all zones. We have made it a point to give priority to commercial buildings, a majority of which are establishments on main roads,” he said.
Building owners are being levied charges incurred by the corporation. “Owners have to display urgency and take up repairs by qualified structural engineers. If they don’t do that within stipulated time, our teams will demolish the buildings and levy fee on the owners,” the Commissioner added.
