The 400-year-old city of Hyderabad known for its magnificent Charminar and IT hub Hi-tec City has always been a paradise for scores of people coming here to realise their dreams. Thanks to plenty of job opportunities the IT and ITES companies, commercial markets, educational institutions or private firms offer, many settle down here.
Finding accommodation is no major issue here for there are many house rental agencies or brokers who help out people in finding suitable independent houses, flats, guest houses, hostels or sharing rooms. Functioning purely on commercial lines, the rental agencies mediate between the house owner and prospective tenant, fix a deal and collect their commission.
The role of house rental agencies is crucial from the security point of view as they help persons new to the city to find accommodation. The security agencies have no database of rental agencies or agents nor have framed guidelines for them.
Advantageous for anti-social elements
Taking advantage of such laxity many ‘criminals’ too are managing to get houses easily with the help of agents or brokers.
A few prospective tenants are themselves contacting the house owners after taking their phone numbers from newspaper classifieds and web portals.
For instance, the alleged terrorists, who were caught for carrying out the Dilsukhnagar blast stayed at a rented house in Abdullapurmet of Hayathnagar and executed their plan. In December last, a Myanmar national was picked up from Balapur for his alleged involvement in Burdwan blast. The man was staying at a rented house.
In fact, notorious chain-snatcher, Shiva, who was shot dead in an encounter, was staying at a rented house in Narsingi. While there is no check on rental agencies, the police have asked the property owners to verify the antecedents of their prospective tenants before renting out their properties. The police have also assured of necessary help in this regard. However, the concept has not been strictly implemented and more or less it remains only on paper.
It is high time the police work out a strategy to prevent anti-social elements from finding accommodation in the city.
Asif Yar Khan
Security agencies have no database of rental agencies or agents nor have framed guidelines for them
