The Hindu : Shops demolished at LB Stadium

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, May 03, 2002

Southern States

Southern States - Andhra Pradesh-Hyderabad

Shops demolished at LB Stadium

By Our Staff Reporter

HYDERABAD MAY 2. Armed with the apex court orders to demolish the shops rented out at Lal Bahadur Stadium premises, the Sports Authority of Andhra Pradesh went about its task this morning taking the shopowners by surprise.

Contrary to the expectations that the owners would be given time till May 31 for eviction the demolition squad began dismantling 14 shops, including Jannat Cafe, the oldest of all established about 22 years ago, despite protests from Asaduddin Owaisi, MIM floor leader. The Deputy Collector of Hyderabad, Ravi Babu, personally supervised the operations along with the estate officer of SAAP, Ramakrishna. There was a temporary halt when Mr. Owaisi argued with officials to stop the demolitions.

"The vice-chairman and managing director of SAAP should have shown some consideration before resorting to this extreme step,'' Mr. Owaisi said. With additional police picketing the demolition squad went ahead with its job. Pointing to a costly material which was lying inside the partially demolished shop, a car decor owner bemoaned that they were not given time to shift the stock to another place. Jalal Hashmi, owner of Jannat Cafe, said: "It is unfortunate at the way the shopowners were treated.''

The owners wanted to know as to what happened to the goodwill amount of Rs. 30 lakhs given to the SAAP for regularisation of their shops.

Meanwhile, Mr. Ramakrishna said the SAAP was implementing the High Court orders.

When contacted, L.V. Subrahmanyam, Vice-Chairman and Managing Director of SAAP, said the shops which were demolished did not fall under the purview of the court order, which pertained only to those 16 shopowners who went to the court. "For those shops the deadline for vacating the premises is May 15,'' he added.

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