KBR Park Road Widening Affected Owners Forum protest land acquisition for Hyderabad-CITI project

Property owners at Jubilee Hills No.92 have questioned the urgency of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) initiating the property acquisition process for the H-CITI project without following due procedures and evading the Supreme Court’s directives on fair process. In addition, within the scope of the project, a proposal was made to make the entire area around KBR Park one-way and to solve the traffic crisis without spending a fortune on overpasses and underpasses.

Residents and traders along the route formed a coalition titled ‘KBR Parkway Widening Affected Owners Forum’. Addressing a media conference on Saturday, November 1, 2025, they condemned the coercive methods used by GHMC officials to secure their land.

Explaining the chronology of events, Forum president VVShastri said GHMC had initially sought to acquire the properties under Section 146 of the GHMC Act, 1955 in June-July 2024. This section obliges GHMC to seek the consent of property owners through a notification.

“However, the notification threatened that if we did not give approval within seven days, it would be considered as encroachment on our structures and would be removed. We immediately filed a petition in the Supreme Court declaring the notification null and void,” Mr. Shastri said.

Another notification was issued in August 2025, citing a newspaper advertisement giving 30 days to raise objections for land acquisition. After objections were raised, the Special Land Acquisition Officer called for a public hearing where the property owners questioned the rationale for the project, but to no avail.

“Despite searching, we were not shown any plans for the project. Instead, they only showed us a sheet of paper with two straight lines drawn indicating the extent of the property to be acquired,” said Mr. Shastri, whose 290 square meter property will be used for the project.

He also alleged deliberate harassment by GHMC officials who came every two or three days to collect one document or the other.

“It’s either a title deed, a building permit or something else. They’re trying to find an excuse and a loophole to demolish the property,” he claimed, questioning whether this was a democratically elected government or anarchy.

He also stated that approximately 1000-1200 fully grown trees will be removed from the road median to make room for overpasses.

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“We request the government to consider our suggestion to make the entire road one-way during morning and evening rush hours to solve the traffic problem. Otherwise, they may investigate the Delhi government’s odd/even number strategy. All roads are clogged in the city. It is not possible to demolish all the buildings to build a road,” he said.

Another owner, Sridhar, suggested that the government take over the eco-sensitive zone of KBR Park, which is already occupied by eateries and ground/multi-storey car parks. “Due to one-sided acquisition, several plots will have very little area, which will bring no benefit to the owner,” he noted.

Nagendra Parvataneni, the other owner of the project, accused the Government of targeting local residents for failing to properly represent his case in the National Green Tribunal regarding the project.

“The land in the ESZ consists mostly of ornamental plants and shrubs. In contrast, the currently proposed expansion will destroy the entire road median with large trees that are over 30 years old. These are almost impossible to relocate,” Mr. Parvataneni said.