Will not spare encroachments on water bodies: Telangana CM

Hyderabad, Sep 11 (IANS) Telangana Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy on Wednesday asked encroachers on water bodies to leave voluntarily and warned that the government would not spare unauthorised constructions.

Speaking at the passing out parade at Telangana Police Academy, Revanth Reddy blamed encroachments on lakes, ponds, tanks and drains for the floods and said this was causing huge damage to the poor.

The Chief Minister said that the government is determined to remove every encroachment, no matter how powerful the encroachers may be.

He asked the encroachers to honourably exit by removing the encroachments on their own, otherwise, the government would demolish the unauthorised constructions.

He mentioned that the Hyderabad Disaster Response and Assets Monitoring and Protection Authority (HYDRAA) was created to reclaim the encroached land of water bodies.

The Chief Minister ruled out regularising unauthorised buildings on Full Tank Level (FTL) and buffer zone of lakes and said the government would not hesitate to send the encroachers to jail.

He declared that the Musi River would be conserved by removing all encroachments. He announced that 11,000 people living in the riverbed would be sanctioned houses under the Indiramma Housing scheme.

The Chief Minister reiterated that the government will deal with the drug menace with an iron hand.

He voiced concern over youth becoming addicted to drugs and indulging in cybercrimes. He exuded confidence that the young police officers would make Telangana a drug-free state.

"We all have the responsibility of rebuilding Telangana and showing the way to the young generation," he said.

Stating that Telangana state was achieved with the sacrifices of youth, he said the aspirations of the unemployed were not fulfilled for nine years.

Asserting that the people’s government came to power in the state with the people’s support, he claimed that within three months, the government filled 30,000 vacancies in the government departments and issued notifications for another 35,000 jobs.

The Chief Minister said his government cleansed Telangana Public Service Commission and the unemployed youth are now preparing for the exams with enthusiasm.

He announced that a residential school for children of police personnel would be established on 50 acres of land in Hyderabad. Another residential school would be set up in Warangal. He asked officials to take steps to ensure that the residential school in Hyderabad commence the classes.

Revanth Reddy remarked that the state needs concrete policing not cosmetic policing. He said police should be friendly only with victims and not with the criminals.

He claimed that the state government was not only bringing investments to the state but was also taking steps to help farmers, weavers and toddy tappers.

He said loans of 22,22,685 farmers were waived in just 28 days by depositing Rs 18,000 crore in their accounts.

Director General of Police Jitender presented to the Chief Minister a cheque of Rs 11,06,83,571 towards the contribution by the police department to the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund for flood relief.

A total of 547 sub-inspectors, including 145 women, passed out of the Police Academy after completion of the training.