N-Convention Centre, owned by popular actor Nagarjuna, is being demolished by the Hyderabad Disaster Response and Assets Monitoring and Protection (HYDRA) due to allegations of encroachment on the Full Tank Level (FTL) area and buffer zone of Thammidikunta Lake.
The FTL refers to the maximum spread of a water body, where construction is restricted. A buffer zone is also established around the FTL area to protect against encroachments.
Earlier this year, the zonal commissioners of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) were instructed to form lake protection committees to prevent encroachments on water bodies in and around the city.
Recently, the National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC) revealed that the extent of lakes in Hyderabad had been reduced by 61 percent between 1979 and 2024.
Nagarjuna's convention centre is allegedly situated on 1.12 acres of the FTL area and an additional 2 acres within the buffer zone. According to official sources, the FTL area of Thammidikunta Lake is approximately 29.24 acres.
The property had been under scrutiny for several years, but the GHMC had not taken any action against it. The management of the convention centre allegedly used influence to bypass regulatory actions from the concerned authorities.
An official complaint against the convention centre was filed with HYDRA on Wednesday by Komatireddy Venkat Reddy, Telangana's Minister of Roads and Buildings. He included with his complaint the FTL map showing the encroachment, along with a Google Earth map.
Following the demolition drive, the actor took to social media platform X (formerly Twitter) to express his frustration.
"The land is Patta land, and not even an inch of the tank plan is encroached. As a law-abiding citizen, if the Court, before which the matter is pending, had decided against me, I would have carried out the demolition myself," he wrote.
He also claimed that no notice was issued to him prior to the demolition that morning.
The Congress government recently established HYDRA for the Telangana Core Urban Region (TCUR) to handle disaster management, asset protection, and other functions.
HYDRA is responsible for managing and protecting government assets such as parks, open spaces, playgrounds, and lakes.
Led by IPS officer AV Ranganath, HYDRA has been actively demolishing illegal structures to reclaim encroached land around water bodies.
Earlier this month, they demolished unauthorized constructions in the heritage lake Bum-Rukn-Ud-Dowla in Shastripuram and near the Gandipet reservoir in Rangareddy district.