It was but one of
many actions designed to demolish illegal constructions that have been built
over water bodies and public lands in the state.
The Hyderabad
Disaster Response and Assets Monitoring and Protection (HYDRAA) authority began
demolishing actor Akkineni Nagarjuna’s N Convention Centre in the Madhapur area
of Ranga Reddy district in Telangana on Saturday. The demolition was halted
temporarily after the actor explained that the public gathering hall was being
constructed on an already approved building plan, The News Minute reported. He
called the demolition ‘unlawful’ in a statement posted to Facebook. Following
this, Nagarjuna approached the High Court, which on Sunday ordered a stay on
it.
Photo courtesy GV
Praveen KumarThe action was part of a long-standing state drive to remove
unauthorised structures that have come on public lands. The demolition of the
building began at the crack of dawn on Saturday when groups from HYDRA showed
up at the site with police personnel acting as a deterrent.
High Court Orders Stay
However, in a
major development on Saturday, actor Nagarjuna’s team stated that the Telangana
High Court stayed the demolition order on the actor’s plea in the court.
According to his team, in a statement on Saturday, “High Court ordered a stay
on demolition of structures owned by Nagarjuna, N-Convention. The actor
approached the court for the stay order and was granted it. Justice T Vinod
Kumar conducted the inquiry. High Court has issued an interim order to stop demolitions.”
Because the
convention centre was built on 10 acre of land, it was found to be in violation
of several land use and environmental codes. The convention centre had
reportedly encroached on the Tummidikunta lake, the NDTV report found. 1.12
acre of it is within the Full Tank Level (FTL) and another 2 acre is within the
buffer zone of the lake.
Actor calls action ‘unlawful’
The actor said his
ire was caused by the manner in which the ‘illegal demolition’ had been carried
out ‘in breach of the existing… stay orders & cases in court’. On X,
Nagarjuna said: ‘I feel saddened due to the unlawful manner of the demolition
which was carried in respect of N Convention, in breach of the existing stay
orders and the Court cases. I feel it proper to make this statement to
highlight specifics so that my name is not tarnished and beholden to baseless
or false news and also to indicate that we have not done anything in
contravention to law.
Nagarjuna claimed
that there was no tank plan land encroached upon on the land on which the
property was constructed but that it was their Patta land.
Patta land is land
belonging to the state. Not a single inch of tank plan was encroached. The
building was constructed in the private plot. There was a stay order on any
earlier illegal notice for demolition. The demolition happened in incorrect
fashion on the false information.
Moreover, he said,
he had no intimation before his house was razed to the ground. The actor said
he would go to the court against the action.
No intimation was
given before demolition was carried out this morning. Being a law-abiding
citizen, if the matter pending before the Court had gone against me, I would
have myself carried out the demolition. Here is my statement for the purpose of
settling any public impression arising out of unlawful construction or
encroachment by us. Relief in respect of steps taken illegally by officials
will be sought from the Court.