Property owners seek fivefold compensation for SCB elevated corridor

Property owners along the proposed SCB elevated corridor in Hyderabad have demanded compensation at five times the market value, citing heavy losses due to HMDA’s plan to widen the road from 100 to 200 feet.

Hyderabad: Property owners affected by the SCB elevated corridor between Gymkhana Grounds and Shamirpet ORR on State Highway-1 (Rajiv Rahadari) have demanded compensation at five times the market price, raising concerns over the valuation being offered for land acquisition.

According to a joint survey conducted by the Secunderabad Cantonment Board (SCB) and Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA), over 1,100 properties will be affected on this stretch starting from Vikrampuri Colony (near Secunderabad Club), Karkhana, Trimulgherry, Lal Bazar, Lothukunta, and Lakdawala Gate, Bollarum, on both sides of the 18-km length of the elevated corridor.

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On Sunday, a group of property owners who came together as Rajiv Rahadari Property Owners’ JAC met the Malkajgiri BRS MLA, Marri Rajasekhar Reddy, and urged his intervention in their fight against HMDA’s decision to increase the proposed road width from 100 feet to 200 feet for the corridor.

Satish Gupta, chairman of the JAC, told the MLA that the 200-ft road width was causing immense damage to properties and sought five times compensation compared to the open market to property owners.

The Defence Ministry was also urged to amend rules to freehold rights to B3 land (land belonging to the Ministry of Defence but given on lease) in Secunderabad Cantonment, as the property owners were already paying property tax to SCB and registration stamp duty to the Telangana government. As a result, the property owners would become eligible for regularisation similar to private properties, so that the demand of five times value as compensation will be applicable to them, too.

The JAC also handed over a schematic drawing of road width of 112 feet and suggested that the HMDA follow it for the elevated corridor to minimise property loss.