No open space in Asia's 2nd largest MVP Colony

By SNV Sudhir

Visakhapatnam, June 26, 2012: As the CBI is gearing up to probe a case where a building came up on a vacant public site earmarked for a community hall in MVP Colony as per the original layout plan, fingers are being pointed at many such open spaces which have fallen into the hands of private individuals.

The CBI has taken up the probe as per the recent directions of the High Court into a case related to construction of a building by private individuals on land allotted by Vuda authorities which was originally earmarked for a community hall or a public utility.

In MVP Colony, which is considered as Asia’s second largest colony in terms of area, a meager 2 per cent of the land was left as open space, though 10 per cent is the norm.

For instance, a huge chunk of land which was earmarked as a HUDCO zonal park in sector 7 was later allotted to a private educational society where colleges are being run and in the same sector, another piece of land which was identified as an open space was allotted to some employees’ association as plots. There are also allegations that half of the 16 acres earmarked as naala was also illegally occupied.

Except for a few parks in sector 2, no prominent open spaces are seen in the colony. “We have not got any specific information about such open spaces allotted as plots. The probe, ordered by government into various alleged illegal allotments is underway. We will definitely look into this issue also,” Vuda, vice-chairman, Kona Sasidhar told this correspondent.