Hyderabad: A young IAS officer’s head has rolled after civic authorities under his jurisdiction demolished two temporary sheds abutting the large house of former Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy in Hyderabad.
The temporary sheds were illegally constructed on the pavement adjacent to the compound wall of Jagan’s house at the Lotus Pond area of Jubilee Hills. The sheds are understood to have functioned as accommodation for Jagan’s security personnel.
Neighbours had complained to local municipal authorities several times in the past, saying that the sheds had encroached upon a narrow lane, leading to traffic congestion. Several notices issued by the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) to the staff who maintained the house to remove the sheds following these complaints were ignored.
On Saturday, June 15, the zonal commissioner of the GHMC for the Khairatabad zone, Bhorkhade Hemant Sahadeorao, ordered their demolition. Armed with the sanction, GHMC staff deployed Poclain machines and razed the structures. Police were deployed at the scene too.
The very next day, the government instructed the commissioner in charge of the GHMC, Amrapali Kata, to transfer Sahadeorao out.
The 2018-batch IAS officer was not given a fresh posting after his transfer order was issued by the commissioner.
The demolition put the Congress government in the state in an embarrassing position as it led to speculation that it was done at the instance of Telugu Desam Party government in Andhra Pradesh as a vindictive step against Jagan after he lost power a few days ago.
Rumours are rife that Andhra Pradesh chief minister N. Chandrababu Naidu may have had a role in this – having been a former boss of his Telangana counterpart Revanth Reddy when the latter was in the TDP.
A minister chief minister Revanth Reddy’s cabinet was learned to have mounted pressure on the GHMC to pull down the structures. His close aides allegedly took it up with local GHMC officials who approached the zonal commissioner and got the demolition order without keeping the government in loop. However, another minister opposed the demolition before CM Reddy, who also holds municipal administration portfolio. Whether this opposition led to the bureaucrat’s transfer is not known.
Jagan’s supporters have insisted that the sheds were a necessity for his security. Jagan, however, has rarely visited the house which is shared by his sister and Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee president Sharmila.
Meanwhile, the Revanth Reddy government on the evening of June 17 transferred 30 Indian Police Service officers at the junior level and posted, from among them, new Superintendents of Police for Jagtial, Suryapet, Gadwal, Komram Bheem Asifabad, Mahbubnagar, Vikarabad and Nalgonda districts.
In a related development, the TDP government in Andhra Pradesh issued orders to reopen traffic on the road adjoining Jagan’s house on the banks of river Krishna at Tadepalli.
With the anticipation of AP State Government downscaling the security of former Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, a batch of 30 private security guards were deployed for security at his Tadepalli residence.
AdvertisementThe road in front of his house was opened for… pic.twitter.com/cwZVGCot9I
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The road had been closed to traffic for five years. Barricades put up on both ends of the road were manned by police check-posts. Only those with permission were allowed to travel.
With the barricades lifted, the public can travel on on the one-and-half kilometre road.
