Several portions of a high-profile convention centre owned by top Telugu actor Akkineni Nagarjuna were demolished today under the directions of officials of the newly created Hyderabad Disaster Relief and Asset Protection Agency (HYDRAA). Officials had issued a notice to N-Convention Centre at Madhapur for allegedly encroaching on Tummidikunta lake’s Full Tank Level (FTL) area. The centre is spread over 10 acres but about 1.12 acres is on land that belongs to the lake. Another 2 acres is in the lake’s buffer zone. “They are in clear violation and have encroached upon more than 3 acres of lake land. Today we started demolishing the portions that are encroached,” HYDRAA commissioner, IPS officer A V Ranganath said. This is HYDRAA's second major operation after the agency was formed last month to protect lakes and water bodies and other spaces from encroachment. Last week, several bungalows, eateries and buildings that had come up in the buffer zone of a lake in Shivrampally on the outskirts of Hyderabad were demolished. The N-Convention Centre has faced controversy ever since it was built in 2012, and the previous K Chandrashekar Rao government had issued notices to it but refrained from demolishing the allegedly encroached areas. Apart from complaints of encroachment, traffic police initially faced a nightmare whenever functions, especially weddings of film stars, industrialists and politicians, were held at the centre as it would often cause a massive traffic jam. The centre took measures to mitigate the situation. The centre, with its state of the art facilities, luxuries halls and spaces, is a favourite among the high and mighty of Hyderabad. Nagarjuna issued a statement on social media that the Hydraa action is based on misinformation, and that officials ignored stay orders from courts. He denied violating any laws and said that the land he had purchased was not encroached lake land. However, officials said that they have revenue records showing that over 3 acres of lake land has been encroached. Ranganath has warned that irrespective of who owns the properties, if they are on encroached land, Hydraa will demolish them. “The land is a Patta land, and not even an inch of tank plan is encroached. In respect of the building constructed inside the private land, there is a stay order granted against any earlier illegal notice for demolition. Today clearly, the demolition was carried out wrongfully based on misinformation,” he wrote. In response to Nagarjuna’s post, HYDRAA said his N-Convention was built in the FTL and buffer zones, and had “no building permission whatsoever”. It also accused N-Convention of “clearly manipulating the systems and process and continuing their commercial activity through the unauthorised structures built in the FTL and buffer zones.” “N – Convention has tried to regularise the unauthorised structures under Building Regularisation Scheme (BRS) but was rejected by the concerned authorities,” HYDRAA said in a statement. The authority added that its officials followed “due process” and “completely demolished the unauthorised structures in Tammidikunta Cheruvu” this morning, along with officials from the irrigation, town planning and revenue departments. It further said the Telangana High Court gave an interim stay on the matter on Saturday afternoon. The demolition of Nagarjuna’s property is also to deflect criticism from the Bharat Rashtra Samithi that the A Revanth Reddy government is using HYDRAA to target properties of BRS leaders. The newly formed HYDRAA operates within the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) limits and the districts of Rangareddy, Sangareddy, and Medchal, to enhance disaster response and asset protection including investigating illegal constructions, as per the Telangana government’s official website.
