Work on the controversial food court on the Beach Road has been stopped by the GVMC. This follows the intervention of the Minister for Municipal Administration M. Maheedhar Reddy who, acting on a letter of Tribal Welfare Minister P. Balaraju, asked the GVMC to stop the construction of the food court.
In a letter dated March 1, the Municipal Commissioner stated that following a letter received from OSD to the Minister for Municipal Administration citing objections raised by Tribal Welfare Minister P. Balraju the construction was being stopped until further orders. The letter was issued to Image One Fun ‘N' Food Village Private Limited which recently started the construction.
In his letter to the Chief Minister and the Municipal Administration Minister, Mr. Balaraju said that the construction on the Ramakrishna Beach near Ghantasala statue would obstruct people's movement and giving permissions to buildings inconveniencing tourists was not justified.
He urged the Chief Minister to stop the construction and seek a report from the officials concerned.
The food court has been in the eye of controversy right from 2006 when it was first approved.
Objections raised
Former IAS Officer and convenor of Forum for Better Visakha E.A.S. Sarma raised several objections stating the construction violated land use classification as the Master Plan did not permit any construction for commercial purpose and the area was classified as CRZ III, clearly a no-development zone. The developer had not obtained the mandatory approval from the Ministry of Forests and Environment or the State-level Appraisal Committees. Part of the food court would come in the expansion of Beach Road to 40 meters as per the Master Plan, Mr. Sarma said. Several other organisations also protested against the construction.
