Telangana: Ex-sarpanches violate GO-111 rules, criminal charges initiated

Hyderabad: The Ranga Reddy district administration is focusing on violations by former sarpanches in issuing approvals for layouts and buildings on the city outskirts during their tenure. They are looking especially at 84 villages under the GO-111 and are initiating criminal cases against erring sarpanches and ex-sarpanches.

In 1996, the government issued GO-111 restricting new layouts and constructions in order to protect the two water bodies, Osman Sagar and Himayath Sagar. After formation of the Hyderabad Metro Development Authority in 2016, these 84 villages came under the jurisdiction of the HMDA, which now grants building approval for constructions of more than G+2.

But, in the last 10 years, when there was a real estate boom, thousands of layouts were established as sarpanches issued approvals illegally. The reason for the inundation of Bandari Layout, Darani Nagar and others during the monsoon is because of the approvals issued by sarpanches illegally.

Following a recent complaint made by the Mandal Praja Parishad president of Moinabad, Mudigonda Anita, about illegal layouts at Himayathnagar village, Ranga Reddy district collector M. Raghunandan Rao directed the concerned officials to register criminal cases against an erring sarpanch and two ex-sarpanches.

Ms Anita said in her complaint that the illegal layouts were established during the tenure of two ex-sarpanches and handed over the list of respondents. Following the complaint, district panchayat officials visited the village, examined the records and concluded that the allegations were true. The district collector told this newspaper that he had asked his team to look into the matter once again. “Before taking a final view, I have directed the team tp take a re-look into the matter. After re-verification, we will take action,” he said.

In the last two years, the Ranga Reddy revenue administration has identified 49 sarpanches out of 415 who have violated rules, and issued show-cause notices to 24 of them. Nineteen more are being probed. The charge against a majority of them is that they illegally issued approvals for buildings and layouts, apart from misusing funds. The District Panchayat Raj Officer is also holding enquiries into some others, a source in the Rangareddy Collectorate said.