WARANGAL: Following in the footsteps of GHMC, the Greater Warangal Municipal Corporation (GWMC) too went on a demolition spree here on Wednesday removing encroachments on the major drains.
Mayor N. Narender oversaw the demolitions on major drain in Nayeem Nagar. After conducting survey for two days and identifying illegal structures across the tri cities, the GWMC officials found that the Nayeem Nagar nala was the worst case, which caused severe traffic interruption on the Warangal-Karimnagar highway for four days.
School compound wall
The municipal staff demolished the compound wall of a private school that had come up on the drain.
The compound wall came up and the width of the drain which was about 53 ft according to city plan had come down to 43 ft. The narrow passage obstructed the flow of flood waters which came onto the main thoroughfare disrupting the vehicular movement.
The Mayor said that they would not favour any person involved in encroachment either big or small in social stature. Previous governments used to target poor people living in huts during demolition drives, he observed.
Targetting big buildings
This time the target was big buildings and commercial complexes that came up on the public property including drains and roads. “We can accommodate the poor if we demolish their houses by allotting them double-bed room houses. The demolition drive is part of making Warangal a smart, safe and beautiful city,” he said.
The city experienced floods following a rainfall of just 22 cm in the past ten days. Plans would be made to ensure that city withstood the floods even when the quantum of rain was 44 cm.
Action against officials
The survey conducted by the GWMC revealed several irregularities and illegal constructions into light. Blaming the Revenue Department for the irregularities, Warangal RDO Venkata Madhava Rao and Hanamkonda Thahsildar were issued memos by the District Collector.
Further investigation was on to identify the officials who were responsible for the irregularities.
