Hyderabad:A landmark building on Secunderabad’s Rash-trapati Road, Anand Bhavan, was demolished by the GHMC’s town planning staffers on Thursday, amidst high tension and protests by tenants.
The seven shops inside the Bhavan were pulled down without giving time to the tenants to remove costly things like jewellery, watches and electronic appliances. This enraged the tenants who had to be detained.
The area was cordoned off by the police and the demolition began before the stores opened till 5 pm.
The dispute between the tenants and owner of Anand Bhavan led to the demolition of the 40-year-old building. However, the hotel inside the building was not touched. The tenants alleged that owner P.V. Ranveer did not carry out a stability inspection of the shops and the GHMC carried out the demolition when the case was pending in civil court.
Mr Mohammad Sayeed Uddin, a tenant said, “This case is on since a year when this building was declared as dilapidated. The seven tenants approached the HC and the first petition was dismissed. The court asked us to get a stability report from JNTU. The tenants left the job to the owner. However, we were unaware that the owner had conducted inspection only for the hotel and not the shops.”
The Anand Bhavan (800 square yards) has seven shops and one hotel. The hotel is now with the owner.
Mr Dharmendra Jain, a tenant said, “Another petition was filed in the HC in which the tenants requested a fresh stability inspection. This time the court directed the inspection should be done by OU. All the tenants are paying rent regularly. In fact the tenants were ready to pay for the stability inspection as well. But the GHMC demolished the building.”
Owner P.V Ranveer was not available. GHMC official Sai Baba said the demolition was carried out as per court orders. “We had issued notices to all the occupants.”
The demolition was carried out only after following all procedures with the help of the police.
