ENVIRONMENT VS REALTY
On March 15, in the state assembly, Telangana chief minister K. Chandrashekar Rao announced his intention to repeal a 1996 government order— GO111—which creates a 10-km-wide buffer zone around the Himayatsagar and Osmansagar reservoirs outside Hyderabad. The order severely limits construction and industry in the buffer zone to protect the city’s water supply and the local ecology, since these reservoirs are also a key element of local flood control systems. However, with the construction of the Mallannasagar reservoir, Hyderabad is no longer dependent on Himayatsagar and Osmansagar for water. Describing GO111 as therefore “redundant”, the CM told the state assembly that his government was awaiting the report of an expert committee on the matter, but that it was strongly disposed toward a repeal.
The announcement immediately kicked up a storm. Some accused the TRS (Telangana Rashtra Samithi) government of having ulterior motives, while others spoke of the ecological cost of the decision. Yet others pointed out that lax enforcement of GO111 had already allowed illegal construction to come up in the area, and that a repeal would effectively legalise these properties. Opposition parties also accused the TRS of seeking to profit off the decision—since land prices will appreciate sharply following a deregulation—with the Congress demanding a look into ownership patterns within the protected areas. “We demand an open inquiry of the land protected by the government order. How much has the land ownership changed, how many times, and who purchased these lands?” asks AICC (All India Congress Committee) spokesperson Dasoju Sravan.
The decision will impact some 132,000 acres of land across 84 villages in Shabad, Shamshabad, Rajendra Nagar, Chevella, Moinabad and Shankarapally mandals in west Hyderabad. “Scrapping GO111 at one go might create anarchy,” the chief minister said. “Therefore, the approach has to be a measured one. We will direct the minister for municipal administration and urban development K.T. Rama Rao to study the matter and ensure that master plans and green zones are drawn up for all the [affected] villages.” This decision also has a long history—the TRS has talked of revoking GO111 since at least 2014, when Telangana was created. In 2018, while campaigning in Chevella, Chief Minister KCR had also made this a poll promise.
In recent years, many members of the political class—from the TRS and beyond—as well as urban developers
and speculators have acquired huge parcels of land in villages that fall within the Hyderabad urban agglomeration at paltry prices. Some ‘especially enterprising’ realtors have also thrived by selling plots of land in protected areas to gullible buyers by downplaying or dismissing the restrictions on construction under GO111. Prices in these areas range from Rs 5-10 crore per acre, and these figures are expected to double if GO111 is revoked. Realtors and land registry officials say the steepest increases will be seen in about 20 of the 84 villages. These areas hold huge economic potential due to their proximity to the nearby IT (information technology) corridors.
While local landowners will see huge gains, their profits will come at an ecological cost. Activists repeat that the Himayatsagar and Osmansagar reservoirs and their buffer areas are part of the city’s flood control system— they catch the overflow from the Musi river, which flows through Hyderabad, in periods of heavy rain. The concretisation of their catchment areas means downstream areas could easily be drowned. Hyderabad is already prone to flooding, as was seen two years ago. “It will be a disaster if GO111 is revoked,” says Rajendra Singh, a water conservation activist. Climate change expert B.V. Subba Rao says the priority is to develop a conservation plan for the entire catchment area, which is 2,076 sq. km in size—over 10 times the area notified under GO111. “The issue is sustainable water resource management—this is the relevance of GO111. [The Himayatsagar and Osmansagar] reservoirs were built in the 1920s as flood control structures. They are also a zero-energy water supply model with no carbon emissions. They must be preserved. What is being planned will ensure their disappearance in the next 30 years.”
The TRS already has a controversial record when it comes to urban land management. For one, though it amended the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation Act six years ago to establish a framework for tribunals for illegal construction cases, it has not constituted a single one thus far. In December 2014, it also issued order GO59, which allowed the regularisation of properties that encroached on government land, for a nominal fee. Many point out that this runs directly against the spirit of antiencroachment laws, and that GO111 was upheld by the Supreme Court in 2000 when it was challenged by a group of realtors. The issue of illegal constructions in the buffer zone was then taken to the NGT (National Green Tribunal) which asked for a government inquiry. “Scrapping GO111 will open the floodgates for real estate projects,” says Thakur Raj Kumar Singh, who took the case to the NGT. The tribunal had directed the government to furnish a report on his allegation of over 12,000 encroachments and unlawful constructions in the buffer zone, and though an expert committee was constituted in 2016, no report came of it. “The state ignored repeated reminders from the NGT about the report. Ultimately, the case was closed,” recalls Singh.
A repeal of GO111 will allow the regularisation of many large projects already constructed in the protected area. This is despite the fact that there was no environment impact assessments of these projects, and there is no management plan to address the loss of the Himayatsagar and Osmansagar catchment areas for flood control. Nonetheless, the TRS is sure to reap political gain should the repeal go through—it fulfils a long-standing poll promise and is popular among landowners in the protected areas. Reportedly, the CM is also toying with the idea of advancing the upcoming assembly poll, currently scheduled for November 2023, to make the most of the political boost that may result from a repeal of GO111. And if, as critics allege, much of the land is owned by TRS members, it will also give its candidates bigger war chests for the election. ■