Authorities have ordered the immediate demolition of an unauthorised four-storey residential building in Gopanpally after it developed a dangerous tilt on Friday afternoon, prompting the evacuation of its occupants and nearby residents in Hyderabad’s Serilingampally Zone.
The incident occurred at around 1 pm in NTR Nagar, where the building was occupied by several families. Officials said all occupants, residents of surrounding areas and families from adjoining buildings were evacuated within two hours as a precaution against a possible collapse. Police and municipal personnel also cordoned off the immediate area.
The building was reportedly constructed about five years ago without permission from the Cyberabad Municipal Corporation (CMC). Officials said it stood on a plot measuring approximately 50 square yards, where building rules allow only a ground-plus-one structure. The four-storey construction therefore exceeded the permitted scale for the site, according to the report.
Teams from the Hyderabad Disaster Response and Asset Protection Agency’s Disaster Response Force, the CMC engineering wing and town-planning authorities reached the location to examine the structure. Their inspection focused on the building’s structural failure and the condition of its foundation.
Town Planning City Planner Akbar said CMC Commissioner G Srijana had ordered the immediate demolition of the building after the joint inspection. Heavy machinery, including earthmovers, was deployed to bring down the structure in a controlled manner, officials said.
The evacuation and demolition order come less than a month after a fatal building collapse in nearby Anjaiah Nagar, Gachibowli. An unauthorised seven-storey apartment building collapsed there on August 22, killing two workers, according to the report.
The two incidents have renewed attention on unauthorised construction in rapidly developing parts of western Hyderabad, where residential expansion has increased pressure on land parcels and local infrastructure. In the Gopanpally case, the reported mismatch between the small plot size, the permitted ground-plus-one limit and the four-storey structure has placed building approvals and enforcement at the centre of the official response.
The immediate action at the site was focused on preventing casualties rather than assessing wider accountability. The supplied report does not provide details of any action against the builder, the building’s owner or officials responsible for permitting or monitoring the construction. It also does not state whether residents will receive assistance with temporary accommodation or whether an investigation into the building’s construction records has begun.
Officials have deployed machinery to demolish the tilted structure, while the evacuated area remains secured. Further details on the demolition process and any follow-up action are expected from the municipal and town-planning authorities.
