HYDERABAD: Civil society groups on Monday demanded that the state government should prepare an integrated plan for Musi development that takes care of both the river’s and people’s interests instead of pitting them against each other.
During a press conference organised at the Somajiguda Press Club, Campaign For Housing and Tenurial Rights (CHATRI) convener Varghese Theckanath recalled that year after year governments have taken up Musi’s redevelopment and pointed out that it has particularly affected people from lower income groups.
“At present, around 20,000 families are living on the banks of Musi. Most of them have some land documents or others. After years of efforts, they have built these houses brick by brick. But they are being told to vacate their dwellings to carry out demolitions. This is not justice. Their memories, religious and cultural moorings are shaped by this river, and temples, mosques, shrines and others are testimony to this relationship,” he said and added that the move is a deliberate attempt to take land from the poor.
The group said it held various meetings over the past few days with project’s nodal officer and Principal Secretary (Municipal Administration & Urban Development) Dana Kishore, GHMC Commissioner Amrapali Kata and Hyderabad Collector Anudeep Durishetty along with representatives of slum dwellers.
“They assured us that people and civil society groups will be taken into confidence in implementation of the project,” said Varghese.
‘Relocate people nearby’
Meanwhile, the group also urged the government to relocate the displaced people within two to three kilometers by allotting double-bedroom houses. They noted that most of the people living along the river are daily-wagers such as domestic workers, vendors, construction workers, mechanics and GHMC contract workers.
“Providing these people housing in far-off places won’t be of any help. Eventually, they will have to come back to the city to earn their livelihood,” NAPM’s Meera Sanghamitra said while suggesting that locations such as GHMC lorry stands at Malakpet and Uppal Bagayat be considered for rehabilitating the affected families.
Retired UoH professor and activist G Haragopal appealed to the state government to not start the project without taking people into confidence.
The group claimed that there were flaws in the survey, identification and marking of the houses for eviction and rehabilitation. Though multiple families residing in a single household, the survey considers them as one unit. Another issue is that of families whose houses were damaged in floods.
“My house was washed away in the 2020 floods. Now I asked the surveyors whether I will be allotted a double bedroom but they stated that they cannot do markings on a piece of land,” Mubeen Begum of Shankar Nagar told TNIE.
The group also expressed concerns over the education of affected children, pointing out that dropout rates among students, especially girls, increase whenever evictions take place.
