Making Hyderabad’s vertical boom safer

For the first few seconds, residents of Jayabheri Residency in Anjaiah Nagar could not make sense of the deafening sound. When they rushed downstairs, they found smoke and mud around the apartment complex. Only then did they realise what had happened: the seven-storey building under construction on the other side of their boundary wall had collapsed.

“In the next few hours, all we could hear were sirens. Government vehicles arrived one after another,” recalls Sujata, a 52-year-old resident of Block C of the apartment complex in Hyderabad’s Gachibowli.

For Rakesh, an IT employee in his early 30s, the building that collapsed on August 22 had long been part of the neighbourhood’s landscape. “I have been living in Jayabheri Residency since February. I used to regularly see that building taking shape from our parking lot,” he says.

That familiarity made the sudden collapse all the more startling. Rakesh was in his room when he heard the noise. “It was peaceful inside. But then I heard some noise and ran downstairs. I found the apartment’s parking lot covered in smoke and people rushing to check on their friends and family,” he adds.

The seven-storey structure, constructed with a penthouse, was reportedly unauthorised. The bodies of two migrant workers — Umesh Khare, 34, and Mahtab, 42, both hailing from Madhya Pradesh — were recovered from the rubble. A neighbouring building was also damaged and a resident sustained injuries.

Rubble travels beyond collapse site

For those living around the site, the consequences did not end with the deaths and rescue operation. The collapse set off a chain of events that would affect homes, roads, businesses and other buildings in the locality.

Lakshmi, a 58-year-old homemaker, heard about the incident from her neighbours when she was away, at her native place. Upon her return, she found a changed neighbourhood.

A paying guest (PG) accommodation beside the collapsed structure was being demolished and rubble fell into her premises. Her house has an open portion in the front, with a washroom, while the living area is in the rear half. Debris damaged the washroom and fell onto the sheet covering the open section.

“I was clearing water when the rubble created a hole in the cement-sheet roof of our house. Nobody in the family could sleep that night. For now, our focus is on clearing the debris from our house, and then we will think about reconstructing the damaged portions,” says Lakshmi’s son, Santosh.

For 65-year-old Mohammed Shafiullah, a retired employee of the Electricity department, the problem lay outside his front door. A two-storey house opposite his home was demolished by the authorities following the collapse.

“The owners of the demolished building live in Karimnagar and have not arrived till now,” says Shafiullah, adding that he, along with his two sons and a few workers, had to clear debris from the road as it raised concerns about water stagnation.

“I waited for two to three days before hiring workers to clear it,” he adds.

For him, the collapse also highlighted how dramatically the locality has changed. “We have been living here for two decades. All the PGs and hostels you see today came up in the last six-seven years. Construction escalated after the COVID-19 lockdown, when offices started resuming and people returned to the city for work,” he points out.

The impact was not limited to residents. Praneeth, who works at an OYO property a few metres from the debris, says the hotel has remained shut since the collapse. The debris hit the hotel building and damaged windows across several floors. There was no major structural damage, but the establishment had to remain closed while debris was cleared and repairs were carried out.

At the time of this interaction with The Hindu, it had already been shut for about a week. Praneeth expects the debris clearance to take another seven to 10 days.

“We have lost business of around ₹3-4 lakh so far. On top of that, there is the cost of repairs that we will now have to undertake,” he rues.

In a neighbourhood where homes, rental accommodation and businesses operate in close proximity, the incident showed how quickly an unauthorised construction can disrupt everything around it.

The more difficult question is not simply why the building fell, but why it was still standing despite having already come to the attention of civic authorities.

Cyberabad Municipal Corporation (CMC) records show that a show-cause notice was issued to the building owners on June 17, nearly two months before the collapse. The civic body identified the owners as Farheen Siddiq and Md Sajid and stated that the structure had been constructed without the required permission and without the prescribed setbacks.

The CMC document also states that the apparent use of poor-quality construction materials and absence of proper technical supervision contributed to the collapse. The civic body sought criminal action against the owners over the violations.

CMC Commissioner G. Srijana pointed to both enforcement limitations and the responsibility of property owners. “We can only do so much. People also have to understand that there are rules to abide by. No matter how much we try to regulate, our efforts will be limited by our capacities and the manpower we have. People also should be responsible enough not to violate the rules,” she says.

The collapse also resulted in action against a civic official. CMC suspended Town Planning Building Officer U. Santosh Kumar of Circle-50, Madhapur, in connection with the unauthorised construction and failure to stop it.

A neighbourhood built upwards

HYDRAA Commissioner A.V. Ranganath pointed to a pattern of tall buildings being constructed on small plots in the area. “Several seven- and eight-storey structures have come up on plots measuring around 50 square yards in Anjaiah Nagar. But some of them have permissions for only two floors,” he says.

The concern is not simply that buildings are getting taller. Vertical construction is taking place in an already dense neighbourhood, where buildings, roads and drainage infrastructure have little room to absorb the consequences of structural failure.

Ranganath raises concerns around foundations, structural strength, fire safety and disaster mitigation. “Many structures have encroached on flood and stormwater channels and such unsafe buildings would be identified and demolished,” he adds.

Anjaiah Nagar’s proximity to Hyderabad’s IT corridors has made it attractive for rental accommodation. As more people are housed in buildings originally designed for different uses or occupancy levels, questions over permissions, safety and evacuation become more important.

HYDRAA Commissioner and CMC Commissioner have both said many hostels in the area are operating without permission.

“The demand for PGs in this locality is very high because several MNCs are within walking distance of Anjaiah Nagar. That is why a lot of PGs and hostels have come up here in the last few years,” says Vikas, owner of a PG accommodation.

For workers who have migrated to Hyderabad, however, PGs are not simply a matter of convenience. They are often the more affordable option in a locality where rents have risen alongside the growth of the IT corridor.

“There is a misconception that people working in MNCs and IT companies have a high income. There are lakhs like us who migrate from our hometowns after landing jobs in cities like Hyderabad. Renting a 1BHK in a locality like Madhapur would eat up half my salary. So, in the initial phase of our career, people like me prefer hostels. Many of us also have to send money back to our parents,” says Pankaj Kumar, a native of Bihar.

The result is a neighbourhood where the pressure is not just outward, through expansion across plots, but upward, through additional floors and increased occupancy. The August 22 collapse showed what can happen when that pressure meets an unsafe structure.

From one collapse to 154 demolitions

The response has extended far beyond the site of the collapse. Two days after the incident, the CMC launched a wider enforcement drive against unauthorised constructions across its jurisdiction.

According to the CMC’s cumulative demolition report, 154 structures had been demolished across its three zones as of September 2. Serilingampally Zone recorded the highest number with 69 demolitions, followed by Quthbullapur (52) and Kukatpally (33).

Within Serilingampally Zone, the cumulative figures were 28 in Narsingi, eight in Patancheru, nine in Ameenpur, 15 in Miyapur and nine in Serilingampally. Kukatpally Zone recorded 10 demolitions in Madhapur, eight in Allwyn Colony, six in Kukatpally and nine in Moosapet.

Quthbullapur Zone recorded seven in Chintal, nine each in Jeedimetla and Kompally, 10 in Gajularamaram, eight in Nizampet, seven in Dundigal and two in Medchal.

For residents of Anjaiah Nagar, however, the demolitions have not erased the anxiety left by the collapse.

The rubble may be cleared and unsafe structures may be coming down, but residents still have to live alongside buildings that stand just a few feet from their homes. The collapse has brought the risks of such construction into sharper focus, while the wider demolition drive is now reshaping the neighbourhood.

For Anjaiah Nagar’s residents, the question is no longer about what happened on August 22, but what happens to the buildings that remain.