Nine illegal buildings razed in Kukatpally

HYDERABAD: The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation officials demolished a few unauthorised buildings in Sardar Patel Nagar in Kukatpally on Monday, amidst demonstrations by Telugu Desam corporators and locals.Nine buildings were demolished in Kukatpally on Monday.It has come to light the owners and builders, without constructing any building, regularised building applications before 2007, by paying the penalty under the Building Penalisation Scheme by enclosing fake photographs of other constructed buildings.It means they first regularised the non-existent buildings with fake photos and then constructed buildings violating the rules.Speaking to Express, GHMC commissioner MT Krishna Babu said they had identified about 600 such owners and builders who availed of the BPS before 2007 and constructed buildings on vacant plots mostly in Kukatpally and LB Nagar.“The owners and builders had taken advantage of the fact the BPS was applicable to unauthorised structures constructed prior to December 2007,” he added.In other cases, people were found constructing structures on fake BPS applications.About six such cases have come to notice.“A detailed inquiry is being conducted and based on the findings, criminal cases would be booked against persons.We will also question Town Planning staff and officials who had allegedly colluded with the owners and builders,” Krishna Babu said.Water Board goes live on FacebookThe Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board managing director Adhar Sinha launched the Facebook page of the Water Board on Monday.“Facebook is a great medium to interact with our consumers.We look to our consumers as friends and expect this partnership to grow from strength to strength in making us deliver better services,” Sinha said.The page would keep consumers updated about various initiatives taken up by the HMWS&SB and also used to report problems of water supply and sewerage.“The site can also be used for putting up photographs or videos of complaints or violations along with the CAN (customer account number) or house number,” the Water Board MD said.