Andhra Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan on Wednesday, September 4, welcomed the enforcement drive conducted by the neighbouring Telangana government’s HYDRA agency (Hyderabad Disaster Response and Asset Monitoring and Protection Agency), which has been demolishing “illegal” constructions built by encroaching upon water bodies.
He said that Andhra Pradesh should emulate the HYDRA model to mitigate the flood crisis in the state.
Several parts of the state, particularly Vijayawada, have been severely affected by the recent floods.
“What CM Revanth Reddy is doing is correct,” the Deputy CM said, appreciating their counterpart’s measures to address the crisis of floods.
While saying that the government was inclined to enforce a similar campaign to remove the encroachments, Pawan Kalyan pointed out that it was a difficult task. He said that such an implementation would lead to a lot of social tensions and throw up many challenges.
He advocated a “hybrid” approach to preventing encroachments of water bodies and said that authorities should take action before the encroachments happen.
Stating that Vijayawada was witnessing unprecedented floods, he said that authorities should make a record of the encroachments alongside the lakes and ponds and determine their size. He said that the government should use both persuasive methods, asking the occupants to give up the encroached land, and also provide compensation to the socially disadvantaged groups who occupy the water bodies and rehabilitate them.
“There should definitely be an action like HYDRA,” he said. Many times, influential politicians get involved in encroaching lakes, so we need to persuade them to give up their land, similar to the Bhoodan movement, he said.
The Telangana government, which recently constituted HYDRA, has cleared many encroachments. The disaster response body grabbed eyeballs when it demolished Telugu actor Akkineni Nagarjuna’s 10-acre N Convention Centre in Hyderabad’s Madhapur. According to the authorities, the convention centre was constructed by encroaching the Tummidikunta lake, which led to the overflowing of the water in the neighbouring areas during rains.
According to the HYDRA officials, they have cleared nearly 43.94 acres of encroached land involving politicians and businessmen.