VISAKHAPATNAM: The Visakhapatnam Metropolitan Region Development Authority (VMRDA) evicted Fusion Foods, a
restaurant
being operated out of a land pocket belonging to the
VMRDA
in Siripuram, on Sunday morning. The VMRDA, which started the operation early in the morning with the support of police, completed it around 9 am.
The VMRDA claimed that the restaurant’s lease was from 2015 to 2024 without following due procedure, causing the development body major financial loss. However, T Harshavardhana Prasad, owner of the restaurant, claimed he had not received any notice from the VMRDA regarding the
eviction
.
Speaking to TOI, VMRDA officials who took part in the eviction said, “As per a government order dated February 5, 2011, the renewal of a lease beyond three years shall be done only with the prior sanction of the government. Furthermore, the lease was extended at a nominal rent, without going for public auction and without obtaining any sanction from the government. This has caused a financial loss to the authority. The metropolitan commissioner requested to cancel the lease and take action for fresh auction, which could help realise maximum revenue.”
T Harshavardhana Prasad said he had invested about Rs 5 crore on the restaurant as the lease tenure was to end only in 2024. “I couldn’t understand why the VMRDA forcibly evicted us from the place without issuing any notices or providing any information. I was not on the wrong side of the law in any aspect pertaining to the restaurant lease or operation,” said Harshavardhana Prasad.
TDP leaders, including state president K Atchannaidu, on Sunday alleged that political revenge was behind the eviction.
It will be recalled that the accused in the knife attack on chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy at
Vizag airport in 2018 was working at the airport canteen operated by T Harshavardhana Prasad. YSRC leaders had then alleged the role of Prasad in the attack.
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