Hyderabad, April 26 -- When the Hyderabad Disaster Response and Assets Monitoring and Protection Agency (HYDRAA) swings its demolition hammer, it rarely does so quietly. Since its formation in July 2024, the agency has become Hyderabad's most talked-about, as well as its most feared, institution. HYDRAA has demolished unauthorised structures across the city's lakes, parks and government lands, making its commissioner AV Ranganath one of Telangana's most polarising bureaucrats.

Siasat.com's Saleha Fatima sat down for an extensive interview with the controversial man in question, Ranganath, who was both candid and unapologetic. The HYDRAA Commissioner acknowledged that families may have been displaced in some drive, but stopped short ...