Endless wait for house pattas at LB Nagar

Lal Bahadur Nagar, popularly known as LB Nagar is one of the largest suburbs in Hyderabad which has been merged with the Greater Municipal Hyderabad Corporation. Opposition party candidates in the area are likely to give the Congress a run for its money in the polls candidates as several problems plague the area. One of the major issues is that house pattas have not been distributed. At least 300 families at NTR Colony say that officials have failed to give house pattas to eligible people. Land registrations in some colonies have been pending for close to two decades even as people live in houses approved by local municipal officials. There are eight divisions under LB Nagar Legislative constituency. When Expresso visited LB Nagar, NTR Colony, Hayathnagar and Vaidehi Colony, most locals expressed unhappiness with the fact that they hadn’t been given house pattas despite living in the localities for 20 years. Out of the 466 colonies in the area, only 80 have proper facilities such as drinking water, sanitation and roads while 380 colonies lie in absolute neglect. G Rami Reddy, resident of Vaidehi Colony says that people living in slums feel insecure that they might be uprooted any day. This is because the government has failed to provide house pattas to five colonies such as Videhi Colony, BN Reddy Nagar, NTR Colony, Sagar Complex Colony and Siripuram Colony. “We have approached leaders of all political parties. They promised us before the general elections that they would ensure regular drinking water, sanitation and distribution of house pattas. But none of these promises have been fulfilled,” Rami Reddy says. As candidates from all political parties prepare their election manifestoes, needless to say house pattas form the key promise. Pitta Mahinder, Lok Satta candidate from Vanasthalipuram says that his promises include providing drinking water, sanitation and new roads. “I meet people in the division with my key agenda — distribution of house pattas to eligible house owners in the locality,” he adds. When Expresso met LB Nagar MLA D Sudheer Reddy, he said that hundreds of families had occupied at least 60 acre of land about 20 years ago. The case is pending at the High Court as the land owner had filed a petition demanding eviction of occupants. “If it is stated by the court that the land belongs to the Government, we have the right to distribute it to the people. We cannot do anything as the land belongs to a private individual,” he replied. Apart from this issue, LB Nagar is the epicentre of traffic jams as the LB Nagar ring road connects the National Highway Vijayawada- Hyderabad and Nalgonda and Uppal. “Every day, we have a tough time as on the Ring Road is crammed with hundreds of private travel buses. As LB Nagar is last stop, a large number of private travel buses stay parked in front of the LB Nagar bus stop till they get sufficient number of customers. This leads to traffic snarls. Traffic police ignore the situation,” said Ch Yadagiri, local pan shop owner at LB Nagar. BY MOULI MAREEDU