Gopanpally’s NTR Nagar sees G+7 buildings on 50-sq-yd plots

NTR Nagar in Gopanpally has seen multi-storey buildings come up on 50-square-yard plots, raising concerns over safety and compliance with civic norms. A CMC official said some plans were sanctioned by the erstwhile GHMC and admitted gaps in monitoring.

Hyderabad: NTR Nagar at Gopanpally under Cyberabad Municipal Corporation (CMC) limits is witnessing a perilous construction boom as multi-story apartments aggressively scale upwards on tiny 50-square-yard plots, raising alarms over structural integrity and public safety.

NTR Nagar is a dense residential sub-locality situated within the Gopanpally area, positioned close to the city’s major IT corridors. The locality has transformed from a quieter settlement into a rapidly developing hub, with a large presence of working-class families, local businesses, and multi-storey housing.

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While civic bye-laws strictly restrict construction on a 50 square yard plot to a maximum of Ground 1 floor, builders and property owners are flagrantly flouting these laws to erect G 5, G 6, and even G 7 structures on these micro-plots.

The high-rises were constructed without basic safety provisions, including fire escapes, adequate ventilation, and structural safety clearances. The multi-storey buildings also have substandard, small lifts accommodating only three to five people. The absence of evacuation routes could cause mass casualties in the event of a fire, structural failure, or other emergency.

In a bid to evade accountability over the proliferation of illegal high-rises in NTR Nagar, a senior engineering official from the Cyberabad Municipal Corporation (CMC) deflected the blame onto the erstwhile Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC).

An official, requesting anonymity, said CMC was constituted as an independent civic body only recently, and the erstwhile GHMC had sanctioned the building plans.

Admitting a severe monitoring oversight, the official said CMC lacked accurate data or a comprehensive inventory of high-rise structures built on 50-square-yard layouts within its jurisdiction.