Representative photo.
By G Krishna Mohan Rao*
Hyderabad: A new ‘bulldozer action’ now follows the Hyderabad Disaster Response and Asset Monitoring and Protection Agency, better known as HYDRA.
It is creating ripples in the political, business and real estate circles of Hyderabad as bulldozers are now demolishing many huge structures and superstructures built “illegally” on full tank level (FTL) or buffer zones of innumerable lakes and tanks in and around Hyderabad city.
In other words, since its inception in July 2024 by the Congress government of Telangana led by Chief Minister Revanth Reddy, the HYDRA legislation is being invoked frequently to demolish several buildings in Hyderabad city.
For the last two weeks, after the bulldozers were let loose, HYDRA’s actions have been criticised by the Opposition parties. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), and the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) criticised the entity for having no legal standing and becoming a tool in the hands of the government to target properties owned by leaders of opposition parties in the state.
Launched in July 2024, HYDRA took on the responsibility of managing the disaster response and safeguarding public assets within the Telangana Core Urban Region (TCUR). HYDRA demolitions have triggered verbal duels among the political parties, every day.
But why is the Telangana government going hammer and tongs after illegal buildings built on encroached land by politically connected people? The answer is simple. The government wants to win the hearts of the poor and common man, who are fully supporting the HYDRA operations and the arrival of bulldozers in the streets. The state has stated that so far 94.23 acres have been reclaimed through HYDRA’s anti encroachment drive.
HYDRA has received over a thousand complaints related to encroachments from the public and complaints reportedly continue to pour in. The HYDRA body is headed by a senior Indian Police Service (IPS) officer AV Ranganath, assisted by several others.
On September 11, 2024, Chief Minister Reddy made it clear that HYDRA operations would be intensified further and there is no question of sparing anyone how so big he may be. This again sent panic signals among the politicians including some of the ruling Congress legislators. The government is not revealing its real strategy because many politicians have benami real estate businesses and many realtors are politicians as well. The potential buyer, that is the customer, is also panicky and putting pressure on sellers of the properties.
The fact is, that the fear is palpable more among opposition leaders than the ruling Congress Party. One BRS MLA, Palla Rajeshwar, who owns the Anurag Group of Educational Institutions, moved the Telangana High Court asking his buildings to be protected from actions by HYDRA. Another BRS MLA, Harish Rao accused the Congress government of misusing the HYDRA agency for political vendettas and also targeting BRS elected representatives and forcing them to defect to the Congress Party.
Political mileage apart, HYDRA operations might brew dissidence against Revanth Reddy within the Congress. At present his government is in a comfortable position, having attracted 10 MLAs from the BRS. Besides, he enjoys the confidence of the party’s high command. Suppose the Chief Minister can convince the Congress’ high command of the much-needed ‘impartiality’ in taking HYDRA’s operations further, then he as well as the Congress Party may gain some political mileage.
The previous BRS-led state government was pulled up by activists and residents for scrapping a government order, GO 111, enacted to safeguard the catchment areas responsible for diverting water to Osman Sagar and Himayat Sagar— two of the city’s major lakes—which traditionally supplied drinking water to the Hyderabad city. With the scrapping of the GO, the Telangana High Court found itself flooded with litigants. Several allegations of encroachments came to the fore.
With the demolition of the N Convention Centre, a few weeks ago, owned by a powerful celebrity, Chief Minister Reddy established himself in the list of Chief Ministers in the forefront of “bulldozer actions”. The term ‘bulldozer action’ became popular over the past few years after Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath remarked in September 2017 that his government would “bulldoze houses of anyone even thinking of perpetuating crime against women and weaker sections of the society”. By 2020, Yogi was dubbed ‘bulldozer baba’ by the mainstream media for the demolition of gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari’s property. Following the path of Yogi, former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Chauhan in his state selectively bulldozed Muslim residences in 2022, to earn the dubious title “Bulldozer Mama”.
While Revanth Reddy’s ‘bulldozer action’ differs from the kind followed by the BJP leaders in north India, which largely targeted slums, HYDRA Commissioner Ranganathan made it clear that slums or where marginalised sections reside are not a part of HYDRA focus. “We need to have a humane approach in all this. We are focusing on big resorts, commercial buildings and upcoming residential complexes,” he said.
*Senior journalist
