The Hyderabad Disaster Response and Asset Protection Agency conducted operations at four locations on May 5, razing eight unauthorised stone-crushing units and three ready-mix concrete plants across Ranga Reddy district. Ten more RMC plants are yet to be removed. The operations were launched after the pollution control board, the mining department, and the revenue department requested HYDRAA's men and machinery.
The demolitions took place in Gaulidoddi, Vattinagulapalli, Gopannapalli and Kotwalguda in Shamshabad. Among the units demolished were those belonging to Bhagat Singh Stone Crusher, SVK, Parameshwar Stone, Prithvi, Great India Mining, R Miller, and Tirumal Metal Industry. Notably, RMC plants operated under the banners of BSR, Ultratech, and ACC Readymix — two of India's largest cement corporations — were also brought down. According to HYDRAA, all these units had been operating for years without licences, under benami names, and with the backing of large organisations and powerful individuals. Not one had obtained mining or PCB clearances, and all had brazenly ignored PCB notices, Revenue Department orders, and Mining Department objections.
Government departments, in their complaints to HYDRAA, stated that natural hills and hillocks were being destroyed without permission, amounting to environmental destruction. Crushing operations ran around the clock, generating clouds of dust and causing severe air pollution. All of this was occurring within the Outer Ring Road zone. HYDRAA demolished the equipment to prevent the stone crushing from resuming at these sites.
Tracing ownership proved difficult. The plants lacked proper registered addresses, and the mining lease documents were absent. At Kotwalguda, operations had spread across nearly 16 acres, with signs of hills being ground to dust over about 7 acres. A crushing unit belonging to Tirumal Metal Industry was operating there and has been fully removed. Two additional RMC plants at the same site were also demolished on the same day.
However, HYDRAA's jurisdiction has its limits. While the agency could demolish illegal units within the ORR region, similar plants operating just a few kilometres outside the ORR boundary remain untouched. Local media have questioned why the same government has failed to act against those units. The operations have also raised questions about long-standing governance failures. On social media, many asked why the concerned departments had not acted for years, and why no action had been taken against officials who allowed these illegal plants to operate.