GHMC and HYDRAA Find 17 Storey Somajiguda Towers Approved on Hussainsagar Lake Bed

A joint inspection conducted on Monday by the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) and the Hyderabad Disaster Response and Assets Monitoring and Protection Agency (HYDRAA) has revealed that a 17-storey twin-tower high-rise project in Somajiguda, Hyderabad, was granted building permissions despite being located entirely within the full tank level (FTL) and buffer zone of the Hussainsagar lake. The inspection confirmed that the project, developed by Pradeep Constructions, stands on land officially classified in Town Survey records as "vacant land submerged under a lake."

The project, located on Lok Bhavan Road in Somajiguda, covers an extent of 7,640.89 square metres. Officials from the GHMC, HYDRAA, and the irrigation department found that 7,355.15 square metres of the site fall within the Hussainsagar FTL, while the remaining 285.74 square metres lie within the mandatory 30-metre buffer zone. The inspection report concluded that not a single square metre of the site was legally fit for construction.

Despite the land classification, building permissions were granted during the previous BRS regime between 2018 and 2020. The first building permission was approved on December 14, 2018, followed by revised approvals on January 2, 2020. These permissions allowed for two cellar levels, a stilt floor, two 17-storey towers, and a clubhouse. Officials stated that no no-objection certificate (NOC) was issued by the Hyderabad district collector, and no clearance was obtained from the irrigation department.

The findings have revived a political controversy linking the project's approvals to the Janwada farmhouse, which was used by BRS working president and then-minister K.T. Rama Rao (KTR). Badvelu Pradeep Reddy, the proprietor of Pradeep Constructions, had previously claimed ownership of the 3.3-acre Janwada farmhouse property before the National Green Tribunal (NGT).

The issue has significant political history. In March 2020, Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy, who was then a Congress MP in the Opposition, was arrested by the Cyberabad police for allegedly using a drone to illegally film the Janwada farmhouse and accusing KTR of owning the property.

Following the joint inspection, the GHMC has issued a show-cause notice proposing the cancellation of the building permissions granted in 2018 and 2020. Officials also confirmed that no occupancy certificate has been issued for the project. Additionally, a separate August 2024 inspection report revealed that the Janwada farmhouse property itself had encroached on 14 guntas of the Balkapur nala.