I enjoyed my early rides, free from parade and other morning duties, and came upon many a picturesque scene, especially along the Musi river, with city walls and bastions on one hand, and native houses of Begum Bazaar with their fine trees, on the other. The river-bed, too, was always a stirring sight, with countless groups of people bathing, washing clothes, or carrying away water from holes scooped in the sand; elephants being washed or scrubbed with sand by their keepers, and evidently enjoying the operation..” — these are the lines from A Story of My Life, autobiography of Colonel Philips Medows Taylor, an administrator appointed by the Nizam in the 1850s.
You can’t really see the Musi now. It has been reduced to a narrow stream of murky water; the river bed on either side of it has completely been encroached upon by slums and at some places by land sharks who have raised commercial establishments. You can’t even see the famed Hussain Sagar of the same magnitude built during the Qutb Shahi period in the 16th century. According to Taylor’s autobiography, this magnificent lake extended over an area of eight square miles. It was a major source of drinking water for the Residency and city suburbs in the north.
Over the years, this water body has shrunk to 3.4 square miles, thanks to large scale encroachments and commercialisation in the name of development. And, it is no more a drinking water source, thanks to the ever-flowing pollutants from all parts of the city and Ganesh Nimajjanam. And where is the historic Mir Alam tank on the southern side of Hyderabad now? It was built by French engineers in 1806 in the name of Mir Alam, ancestor of the Salar Jang family during the Nizam III regime. It was also a major source of drinking water to Hyderabadis till a few decades ago. The lake, which originally covered over 625 acres, has now been reduced to 347 acres. Even this has turned into a cesspool due to poor maintenance.
The twin drinking water reservoirs — Osman Sagar and Himayat Sagar — constructed over Musi and Esi rivers respectively in the 1920s to provide an additional source of drinking water for Hyderabad, have also completely dried up due to large scale encroachments in the catchment areas and poor monsoon over the years. It’s an undeniable fact that the ever-increasing population and massive urbanisation will have tremendous pressure on the natural resources of any city. But a ruler can be called a visionary only when he thinks ahead of his time and prepares master plans as per the needs of the people and implements them with utmost sincerity.
Unfortunately, successive rulers of the State lacked this vision and wisdom that the Nizam had. They had allowed haphazard growth of the city and left the people in the lurch. For the last few decades, Hyderabad has been facing problems like drinking water crisis, real estate mafia, indiscriminate growth of slums, inadequate sewerage system, water logging, bad roads, disappearance of footpaths, drastic fall in standard of living and beggar menace etc., In the name of development, successive governments have given permissions to multi-storied malls, multiplexes, high-rise buildings, star hotels and ill-planned flyovers in violation of building norms.
In spite of all these inherent problems, Hyderabad has attained global recognition as an investment destination and an IT hub in the last 15 years, thanks to liberalisation. But little has been done to improve civic infrastructure in tune with its growth. For example, Cyberabad, fast developing as the Silicon Valley of the South, does not have an underground sewerage system even now! With all these problems staring at it, can Hyderabad be transformed into a global city like Dallas as claimed by Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao? KCR has apparently realised that Hyderabad needs comprehensive development, rather than mere cosmetic changes, if it has to get a global brand image. With the resounding victory in the GHMC polls, he has gained the political mandate from the people. He has given municipal administration portfolio to his son K T Rama Rao, who has a clear vision and plan for Hyderabad.
And, yes, Hyderabad has all the potential of a global city. It has the geographical advantage in attracting investors from all parts of the country and the world —whether it is in IT, manufacturing sector, pharmacy, healthcare, biotechnology, education or research. The city is ranked 139th globally by Mercer’s Quality of Living ranking 2016, the highest ranking for any Indian city. KTR has already envisioned a master plan for the city. He apparently feels there has to be a radical approach to give a global touch to the city.
Apart from conceiving modern civic infrastructure like multi-level flyovers, skyscrapers, extension of Metro Rail to all parts of the city, satellite townships along the Outer Ring Road, cleaning of Hussain Sagar, creation of green space along the Musi river, and shifting of industrial zones to the suburbs, he also has plans to improve the living standards of people by taking up schemes like construction of double-bedroom houses for weaker sections, increasing the number of State-run vegetable markets to bring down the prices of essential commodities, creation of hawker zones and establishment of rehabilitation centres for beggars etc. The world is watching how the KCR government will keep its word on restoring the city’s pristine glory.