Debris, demolished stalls greet visitors at Hyderabad’s DLF food street after Cyberabad’s encroachment removal drive

Hyderabad’s popular DLF food street, a nearly one-kilometre stretch in Gachibowli known for its bustling eateries, wore a deserted look on Saturday (July 11, 2026) morning as piles of debris lay outside several food outlets a day after the Cyberabad Municipal Corporation (CMC) carried out an encroachment removal drive in the area.

The stretch, a favourite late-night food destination for thousands of IT employees working in the nearby offices as well as visitors from across the city, witnessed the demolition of 48 temporary structures, canopies, signboards and stalls that had extended onto footpaths and public spaces.

Standing inside a juice centre where he was now preparing tea instead of his demolished roadside stall, Pankaj, who works at Al Noor Tandoori Chai, recalled the announcements made before the drive. “Three days ago, police vehicles came here making announcements that all encroachments would be removed. We were asked to remove our nameboards so that they would not get damaged during the demolition,” he said.

The establishment runs three businesses, a juice centre, a tea stall and a pan shop. According to Pankaj, the roadside tea stall bore the brunt of the demolition. “The tea stall was outside the shop and it was completely demolished,” he said, adding that he supplies tea to a software company beside DLF Cybercity and begins work early every morning to meet demand.

Adjacent to the shop, an outdoor kebab counter set up by Sheel Kamal Restaurant was also removed during the drive. Across the road, the canopy outside Sri Vinda Tiffins was demolished. The owner alleged that the demolition extended beyond what they believed to be the property boundary. “When the announcements were made, we spoke to the building owner, who informed us about the property’s boundary. We removed everything that was outside it. But officials went further inside and demolished structures beyond the boundary,” he said.

Business owners claimed they were bearing the consequences of disputes between property owners and civic authorities over the extent of encroachment. “The issue is between building owners and officials regarding how much of the property has encroached onto public land, but it is we tenants who are suffering,” said Chinmay, who runs a shawarma outlet.

He said his restaurant pays a monthly rent of ₹1 lakh, while temporary stalls outside the establishments command rents ranging from ₹40,000 to ₹60,000 a month. “If these structures are illegal encroachments, building owners should not rent them out in the first place or at least warn tenants that they could be demolished. Instead, they continue collecting rent,” he said.

Another kebab stall owner said the drive had severely affected business. “None of the shops could do any business throughout Friday because of the demolition. After the drive ended in the evening, officials cleared only part of the debris and we had to spend our own money to remove the remaining rubble. There was also an electricity outage because some power lines were damaged,” he said. He added that businesses in the locality were already facing reduced footfall due to the ongoing road closure at IIIT Junction.