How dare you touch my land ?

How dare you touch my land?

No, this is not a war of words between two goons. It is an exchange between two government officials – one from South Central Railway (SCR) and Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC). The issue on hand is about properties to be taken over for widening the road from near the Rail Nilayam to Tarnaka.

The battle between two government departments is become more of a farce, leading one to wonder if are living in a democratic set up. GHMC offcials dug up historical data on the ownership of the land near Alugadda Bavi which houses the Stores and Workshop of SCR. For the last one year, SCR has been asking GHMC to pay out over 100 crores in exchange for the land. GHMC which is wary of paying any such money, for it will set precedent and other government departments will raise a similar demand. Numerous notices and dilly dallying by the railways, and pressure from Chief Minister to get roads widened making travel to the new airport a smooth affair forced GHMC to act.

The erstwhile Commissioner of MCH, Sanjay Jaju tried his best to sort the issue out during his tenure without much of a success. So MCH officials led by Dhanajuya Reddy got cracking on Friday morning. Like their other demolition moves, the day was chosen with care. With next two days being holidays, GHMC officials averred that SCR could find it tough to get s stay order from court. So with bulldozers, poclains, pickaxes and policemen in tow, GHMC began pulling down the walls at Alugadda Bavi and then moved on to the road from Mettuguda to Tarnaka.

And soon SCR officials woke up from their deep slumber, but by the time their men reached the spot, the damage has been done. The legal eagles from Railways landed up at the high court and sought an injunction, but the learned judge asked the two government departments to talk things out and adjourned the matter to Monday. But that does not seem to have helped as the Chief Public Relations Officer of SCR, Mr Krishniah shot off an angry missive accusing GHMC of high-handedness. That Mr Krishniah is the husband of Union Minister of State of Health, Panabaka Lakshmi has not helped matters. The Railway authorities posted Railway Protection Force personnel on the spot and tried to register a complaint at the local police stations. But the state government had sent out a message to all Station House officers of the city police stations, to just ignore complaint.

So now the battle goes back to the high court, and last word is yet heard. SCR officials say that Indian Railways have the right to all the erstwhile property of Nizam State Guaranteed Railway. GHMC officials on the other hand say that they are on a strong legal wicket as the lease between the state government and SCR expired about three decades ago. Infact GHMC officials are now demanding that SCR pay up service tax like other departments, and that is the start of another battle.

Watch this space for more.