Destruction of rocks at Defence land in Ammuguda decried

The Society to Save Rocks, has brought to light a brazen attempt to encroach the Defence land at Ammuguda area of Secunderabad Cantonment, where billions of years old rock formations of Deccan are being destroyed systematically to make way for a real estate project. Ammuguda hillocks are home to ancient rock formations and open scrub lands which are used by the society members and local residents for trekking, and rock climbing activities. It was here that athlete Milkha Singh trained before he made a mark on the global stage sometime in the middle of 1950s. “Receiving information about the rock blasting, two of us went there on Friday (May 29, 2026) morning, and found two bulldozers there. Later, on my way back from office in the evening, I went to check the status of the rocks, and found that a third of the boulders had been blasted already,” Sudheer Bhan, a rock enthusiast informed. He recalls an instance two years ago, when attempts to widen the road near a heritage Koh-e-Imam Zamin Dargah were stopped by the society members citing the rock formations. A video clip shared by the Society members shows a rusting sign board, a short distance from where the rocks were being destroyed, which notifies the land as belonging to the Defence. Heaps of rocks and cement bricks supporting its legs clearly indicated that it was moved from elsewhere, and planted here. Google Street View images shows the original location of the sign board — right at the centre of the path leading to the boulders which now lay destroyed in a heap. Images from the Google Street View also clearly show the same board, planted right at the centre of the path leading to the rock formations, which confirms the attempts at encroachment. The role of a political leader from the area is alleged behind the encroachment. “They seem to have sped up the illegal endeavour, taking advantage of the transitional period before the merger of Cantonment lands in GHMC,” says Sangeeta Varma, another Society member. Local residents say that the attempts to encroach the land are not new. They started over a decade ago, and progressed at a slow pace before 2023 elections. “After a brief lull following the elections, now they have increased the speed. Some kind of a deal is made with a reputed builder, and the destruction of trees and hillocks has been on for a few days,” a resident of Sainikpuri nearby informed.