HYDRA ‘fake NOC’ row needs records, not whispers
A Telugu report alleges forged fire-safety papers with HYDRA chief A.V. Ranganath’s signature and a July 4 police complaint. No FIR, no list of colleges, no documents are public. Telangana needs the file, not the fog.
The alleged forgery remains without a publicly produced file.
Content type: news
A Telugu daily reported that HYDRA officials told police on July 4 that forged documents bearing HYDRA Commissioner A.V. Ranganath’s signature were submitted by eight colleges, and that an inquiry is on. The report does not publish an FIR, complaint number, police station, the colleges’ names, or the disputed documents. It also claims HYDRA has not disclosed how many NOCs it has issued and floats an unnamed official’s estimate of “2,000–3,000” certificates — an estimate, not a record. (Source: the report itself.)
What is on the record: Telangana’s Fire Department runs the fire-NOC system — provisional, occupancy and renewals — through its official portal with online scrutiny and a complaint facility. HYDRA has, separately, enforced fire safety: after the Nampally tragedy, two Hyderabad showrooms were sealed over missing or non-functional fire safeguards and lack of Fire NOCs, by order of HYDRA’s commissioner, per a January 30 report. A May 2025 report also quoted HYDRA saying it does not issue general “NOCs near lakes” and warned about fake documents misusing its name.
What is not on the record: any public FIR or HYDRA press note about eight colleges, the alleged forged signature, or who issued the questioned certificates. Until those documents surface, the only verifiable facts are that fire NOCs are a Fire Department service, HYDRA has done fire-safety enforcement, and a report has alleged fresh forgeries without putting the paperwork up. Telangana can read a file; it shouldn’t have to read between the lines.