Hyderabad: Despite cases and petitions with the courts and Lokayukta, and notices issued by the GHMC and the panchayat raj department, builders are brazenly continuing with illegal constructions. Officials cracked the whip for about six months after a fire at the Baba Nivas building claimed seven lives on November 25, 2012. The case is still pending and crucial evidence was lost in a fire accident at the HMDA office in Shankarpally.
The CID case against the HMDA office fire and the delay in the probe has emboldened the builder. Manikonda-based RTI activist P. Suresh said even the builder’s wife had died in the Baba Nivas fire. “But the builder did not stop construction. I had applied for the status of the case with HMDA Shankarpally officials under the RTI. Soon after my application, the HMDA office caught fire and evidence vanished, including 490 other documents,” he said.
In the HMDA office fire case, the then HMDA commissioner had taken action against three officials and had written to the CID to take up a probe. The HMDA also submitted a report on June 26, 2013, to the Lokayukta. Special Chief Secretary for MA&UD had issued a memo to HMDA commissioner on June 8, 2016, seeking a comprehensive report on the incident.
