GHMC’s sudden crackdown on encroachments leaves shop owners in shock

After the demolition of several illegal structures in the old city of Hyderabad, Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) officials demolished the front area of 20 shops in Secunderabad on Wednesday morning. “At around 10 in the morning, GHMC officials along with traffic police came here with bulldozers and asked some of the shopkeepers to evacuate the shops,” said Mohammad Sajid, Secretary of the Telangana Street Vendors Association. The vendors however claimed that no official notice had been sent to them by GHMC officials and the sudden move has affected their livelihood. “They said the area will be used for free parking for two wheelers to ease the traffic,” Sajid said.  Kumar, a 43-year-old owner of Kumar shirts in Secunderabad has been hit hard by this move. “They just came and asked us to empty the shops, this is my only livelihood and they broke the front portion of my shop. Now how will I manage to work for next two weeks?” he asked. On Tuesday, nearly 80 structures in Pattarghati and Falaknumawere were removed by GHMC officials in the old city. Similarly shops in the old city also did not get any official notice from the government. Officials however claimed that the shopkeepers who had encroached onto the footpaths had been counselled and were requested to remove the encroachments one week ago. GHMC deputy commissioner of the South Zone N Yadagiri Rao told Times of India, "The encroachments have been pulled down on the instructions of High Court." “Many of those shop vendors have no other means of income, even one day loss is too much for them. Now they can’t open the shop for weeks, they shouldn’t harass us this way. At least they should have informed two days before this,” Sajid said.  Even after GHMC pulled down the encroachments, the debris has been lying on the street making it difficult for the other vendors to open their shops, he added.  “Because of this, our daily income has been affected, now hardly any customers are coming this side,” said Ahmed Sheik, who owns a footwear stall in that area.