SANGAREDDY: Patancheru Assembly constituency has the largest industrial area in Asia. It is also known as mini-India. Its proximity to Hyderabad adds to its importance.
A microcosm of India, the segment is home to people of different castes, religions and traditions from all over the country. The segment is the largest industrial area in Asia.
People once suffered from strange respiratory diseases due to air and water pollution. But it is now on the wane with the intervention of the Supreme Court.
This has resulted in measures that have somewhat brought down the pollution levels. The state government did not compromise on ending the pollution problem or the constituency would have become another Delhi.
But industrial accidents occur unabated. Several young people from Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and other states have died due to frequent accidents in chemical industries.
Srinivas, a young man from Jinnaram, said that neither the government nor the industry took necessary measures to curb accidents.
Patancheru constituency is close to Hyderabad, which has led to the proliferation of major industries.
Lately, 20-storey to 30-storey apartments have made their appearance. Villas priced between Rs 2 crore and `5 crore have come up. Though many villages in this constituency are becoming economically vibrant because of the location of the industries, civic amenities are very poor. Around 300 new colonies have come up in this constituency but even the minimum facilities like drains, supply of clean drinking water, and roads are absent, making life tough for residents every day. Nothing captures the problem more clearly than the fact that one can notice water purifiers in every household. One could find reverse osmosis (RO) plants that supply clean water in bottles in almost all the Kirana shops.
Suresh, who runs an RO plant in a new colony under Ameenpur municipality in Patancheru constituency, said those who have built their own houses and those who come from different areas for employment and live in temporary huts buy drinking water from him. “You can find RO plants everywhere in this constituency,” he said and pointed out that there are no proper roads in the colony which has come up recently.
A woman resident, Siva Parvati, when asked why she was purchasing drinking water, said, “We constructed a house with eight portions with proceeds from selling our land in our village. When we sought a tap connection, the authorities told us that we had to pay Rs 2.3 lakh. Why should I pay that much for one hour supply of water?”
During delimitation in 2009, Patancheru was created. Earlier it used to be part of the Sangareddy segment.
After the creation of Patancheru, the Congress won once and the BRS twice from this constituency. This time, there is a four-cornered contest. Sitting MLA Gudem Mahipal Reddy is the BRS candidate, while the Congress nominee is Srinivas Goud. The BJP is fielding T Nandeeswar Goud while the BSP’s Neelam Madhu is also in the fray.
It was T Nandeeswar Goud, who won from this constituency after its creation in 2009. In 2014 and 2018, it was Gudem Mahipal Reddy who won from here on the BRS ticket.