The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : ORR comes to their rescue

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Friday, Oct 06, 2006
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

ORR comes to their rescue

M. L. Melly Maitreyi

Owners of demolished houses to be given 250 square yards free of cost irrespective of their original plot size

FOR A BETTER LIVING: Houses facing demolition at HUDA Colony in Shamshabad, for ORR project.— Photo: G. Krishnaswamy

HYDERABAD: The HUDA Colony in Shamshabad is one residential area where whatever could go wrong went wrong. With many of the houses vacant and dilapidated or vandalised, it has remained a picture of neglect. But things are now improving for residents, courtesy the Outer Ring Road Project.

While for many the ORR meant painful displacement, it is turning out to be a visa to better days for owners of the LIG, MIG and economically weaker sections' houses in this colony.

With the ORR alignment necessitating demolition of 110 houses constructed in plots varying from 33 square yards to 172 square yards, the HUDA has assured alternative sites of 250 square yards free of cost to owners who are to be displaced irrespective of their original plot size.

Minister P. Sabita Indra Reddy too has announced that plots will be given in a developed layout nearby in addition to compensation for the structures.

Colony neglected

"Twenty years ago we purchased the houses but neither could we live here nor get even nominal rent as the colony remained neglected.

"We had even paid penalty to the HUDA for failing to pay instalments in time but the colony remained backward with no amenities unlike other HUDA colonies in Vanasthalipuram or Chandanagar. Our wait has paid off," says LIG house owner Srinivas, one of the prospective beneficiaries.

While 600 houses of 1,040 houses in the colony have been allotted, 400 allottees have paid the full amount. Other houses remain under HUDA possession, said Shamshabad Ring Town (HUDA Colony) Welfare Association general secretary G. Narasimha Rao.

Ask the residents about demolition of two houses in Shamshabad HUDA Colony on Dasara day, they confessed that it had led to panic.

"The two dilapidated houses (LIG 185, 186) demolished on Saturday were vacant and belonged to the HUDA," admitted residents of nearby houses.

"But when the poclain came, we were scared that our houses too would be demolished without giving us the promised site and compensation," another resident Bharathi said.

Shivgopal and Fakira say: "We now wait for alternative house site certificates so that we can vacate our houses in the colony to facilitate demolition."

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