Hyderabad: The Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) MLAs walked out of the ongoing budget session of the Telangana Assembly on Wednesday, January 18, during a discussion on the Musi River rejuvenation project.
The Musi Rejuvenation project is one of the major projects of the Telangana government, under which the development of a river front has been planned at a cost of Rs 1.5 lakh crore. In this regard, the Telangana government had sent a delegation to Japan and Singapore to study the river front programmed in those countries.
While the government has assured that the people living in the river bed will be relocateed, the BRS has been critical of the project since its announcement.
On March 14, BRS Working President KT Rama Rao (KTR) accused the Telangana government of land grabbing in the guise of project. He alleged that the initiative is designed to target valuable lands along the river, warning that the party would strongly resist any attempts to demolish people’s homes in its name.
Addressing a programme titled “Musi Rejuvenation – PowerPoint Presentation vs Public Point” at Himayat Sagar, KTR said the Musi can be developed without displacing residents, pointing to the previous BRS government’s development of nearly six kilometres of the river stretch in Uppal and Nagole without demolishing a single house.
“The government’s real intention is to acquire around 3,300 acre of land along the Musi, whose total value is estimated at nearly Rs 1.5 lakh crore,” he alleged.
Question’s expenditure
The BRS leader questioned the scale of the proposed expenditure, asking why the state government required Rs 1.5 lakh crore to develop just 55 km of the Musi when the Namami Gange project, covering hundreds of kilometres, was executed at around Rs 42,000 crore.
He said the previous BRS government had prepared a comprehensive Musi development plan estimated at Rs 16,000 crore, which included an expressway, sewage treatment plants, walkways, cycling tracks, parks, bridges and check dams, along with a plan to bring fresh water into the river through the Kaleshwaram project at an estimated cost of Rs 1,100 crore.
KTR criticised the current government for proceeding without a detailed project report (DPR), social impact assessment or environmental impact study and without conducting consultations with affected communities.
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KTR calls Musi river project ‘Rs 1.5 lakh crore land grab scheme’
He also accused the Congress of historically neglecting the Musi and turning it into a polluted drain during decades of its rule, demanding that the Congress leadership apologise to the people of Hyderabad for the environmental damage caused.
The BRS leader further questioned the selective enforcement of buffer zone regulations, asking why the government was targeting ordinary citizens while ignoring properties belonging to influential individuals, including political leaders and ministers.
In February, Siddipet MLA T Harish Rao alleged that Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy wants to grab land in the name of Musi Rejuvenation project and give it to Ambani and Adani or Megha Krishna Reddy
