Hyderabad: The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation on Friday foiled an attempt by land grabbers to encroach on 5.5 acres of a tank in Masab Tank in broad daylight. Corporation staff hit upon the encroachers when they spotted 15 trucks that were carrying building waste.
They followed the vehicles and found that they were dumping the debris in the Devanikunta lake bed.
Officials claim that the land grabbers had been filling the lake with debris to encroach on government property worth Rs 120 crore.
They said that this will be verified by revenue officials to initiate stringent action.
According to Khairatabad zonal commissioner Musharraf Faruqui, he found during his morning inspection more than 15 trucks taking building waste to a particular place near Masab Tank.
When he followed them, he found that land grabbers have been filling a 5.5-acre parcel of land with debris.
Mr Faruqui stopped the illegal dumping and passed on the information to revenue officials.
Speaking to this newspaper, Mr Faruqui said the land grabbers were dumping waste to develop the land and construct a high-rise building on the Devanikunta lake.
He said that they even tried to convert the sikham land into patta land.
The encroachers have been trying for conversion of land use for over a year now, he said.
“The per acre cost of land in this area would be around Rs 30 crore. We have intimated the revenue department of the land grab,” he added.
When this reporter tried to reach revenue officials regarding the alleged land grabbing, they were unavailable for comment.
A highly-placed source in revenue wing said that there were more than three highly-influential people involved in the land grabbing. They have been moving from pillar to post to change the land use for over a year.
