Hyderabad, Sep 22 (NationPress) The Hyderabad Disaster Response and Asset Protection Agency (HYDRAA) has successfully reclaimed 923 acres of government land valued at Rs.50,000 crore over the past year.

HYDRAA Commissioner A.V. Ranganath announced during a press conference on Monday that the agency reclaimed 923.14 acres of land, which includes lakes, parks, nalas, and roads.

Since its establishment on July 19 of the previous year, HYDRAA has conducted 96 operations to eliminate approximately 581 encroachments.

The reclaimed areas comprise 424 acres of government land, 233 acres of lakes, and 218 acres of roads. Furthermore, the agency addressed encroachments of 15 acres of nala and 25 acres of parks.

Commissioner Ranganath mentioned that HYDRAA has received around 5,000 complaints regarding encroachments affecting lakes, parks, roads, nalas, government lands, and illegal layouts. Almost 75 percent of these complaints have been resolved, focusing heavily on settlements and alleviating waterlogging issues.

The Telangana government established HYDRAA as a specialized agency for disaster prevention and mitigation, as well as for safeguarding public assets, parks, nalas, open spaces, and government lands within the Telangana Core Urban Region (TCUR), which spans 2,055 square kilometres across 150 wards of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC), along with seven additional corporations and 20 municipalities.

Ranganath revealed that HYDRAA has initiated the restoration and rejuvenation of six lakes with an investment of Rs.58.40 crore. This includes Bathukamma Lake at Amberpet, which is set to be inaugurated by Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy on September 26.

Thanks to the rejuvenation efforts, the area of these lakes has expanded from 105 acres to 180 acres, recovering about 75 acres of encroached land.

The installation of 1,000 CCTV cameras across 180 lakes within the GHMC jurisdiction is currently underway, with a projected cost of Rs.8.60 crore.

HYDRAA has identified 14 additional lakes for rejuvenation and has submitted proposals to the government.

The agency plans to implement drone-based FTL finalization for lakes, along with monitoring and detecting annual changes. Additionally, it will initiate geo-fencing of tanks, nalas, and government assets.

The proposals also incorporate real-time dashboards and alerts to enhance inter-departmental coordination.

HYDRAA currently operates 51 Disaster Response Force (DRF) teams consisting of 825 personnel to tackle emergencies, with plans to increase this number to 72 teams this year.