Musi Riverfront Development A Good Initiative That Will Change Hyd’s Face

But how did the `1.50 lakh-cr number emerge? Revanth Reddy on July 20 this year announced that his government would spend `1.50 lakh crore for Musi riverfront and Hyderabad development over the next five years. But it was reported in a section of the media that the Chief Minister announced plans to spend `1.50 lakh crore on the Musi river development alone! KTR turned the number into a political issue

The much-required rejuvenation of the highly-polluted Musi river that flows through the heart of Hyderabad, is a hot political topic in Telangana now. The political heat around this key issue reached its peak last week when Telangana Chief Minister Anumula Revanth Reddy held a marathon media interaction that lasted for nearly two hours to explain about his massive plans for the Musi riverfront development. Revanth’s patient exercise was followed by an hour-long power point presentation by Bharat Rahstra Samithi (BRS) working president Kalvakuntla Taraka Rama Rao the following day.

However, attempts to cleanse Musi are not new. In undivided Andhra Pradesh, the then Telugu Desam Party (TDP) government launched what it called Nandanavanam project in 1997 to beautify Musi river in the city. That project was abandoned following stiff resistance from locals and allegations of corruption in the works that were taken up. Congress leader Dr YS Rajasekhara Reddy, who became Chief Minister in 2004, also tried to develop the river, but his efforts also failed to yield positive results. The issue came to the fore again in 2016 after Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), which came to power in Telangana after the 2014 Andhra Pradesh bifurcation, revived the issue. The BRS government under the leadership of Kalvakuntla Chandrashekar Rao (KCR) even floated Musi Riverfront Development Corporation (MRDCL) in March 2017 to take up the Musi revival. In his presentation, KT Rama Rao, who was the Minister for Municipal Administration and Urban Development in the BRS government, claimed that MRDCL developed a plan with a budget estimation of over Rs16,000 crore for the Musi revival and riverfront development, and even finalised technical drawings. But these plans did not take off. The obvious reason could be lack of funds. In the meantime, BRS lost power in December 2023. Revanth Reddy, who took reins as the Telangana Chief Minister after Congress’ stupendous victory in the last year’s Assembly polls, showed keen interest on the project from the word go. Earlier this year, he even visited London’s Thames river and Seoul’s Han river where massive riverfront development took place. Going by the way Revanth Reddy is taking decisions; he is pretty serious about the project.

But the Musi revival project took a political colour when KT Rama Rao started leveling corruption allegations against the Congress, saying the Revanth government escalated the project cost to a whopping Rs1.50 lakh crore for his and his party’s benefit.

But how did the Rs1.50-lakh-cr number emerge? Revanth Reddy on July 20 this year announced that his government would spend Rs1.50 lakh crore for Musi riverfront and Hyderabad development over the next five years. He made this announcement while inaugurating a flyer at Gopanpally in Hyderabad.

“We have taken up the Musi river development in a big way. For the development of Hyderabad and for the development of the Musi river area, we have readied plans to spend Rs1.5 lakh crore over the next five years. We will start the works soon,” he asserted at the meeting, saying he would develop the Musi river in such a way that future generations should refer to his government whenever they visit the revived river. He also underlined the need for the development of Hyderabad. “Hyderabad accounts for 65 per cent of Telangana’s income. So, there is a need to nurture and develop Hyderabad as a world class city,” he asserted.

But a section of the media including the leading vernacular daily reported that Revanth announced plans at that meeting to spend Rs1.50 lakh crore on the Musi river development alone. But as per his speech on that day, the amount is meant for the development of the entire Hyderabad, not just the Musi area. Intriguingly, the Telangana government did not issue any clarification on the key funding amount even though there was widespread misreporting. As a consequence, the entire political discourse is now centered on Rs1.50 lakh crore and the budget escalation of the Musi project, not how the current government will develop the project. The Congress government could have defended the number as it has already announced Rs10,000 crore in the recent Budget for Hyderabad and Rs1.50 lakh crore for the city’s development including Musi project over next five years is not off the mark. But it did not do that either.

KTR, who turned aggressive against the Congress government on the social media and off it these days, has consistently been leveling allegations against Rahul Gandhi too, saying Rs25,000 crore from the Musi project would go to the Congress high command for funding the party’s elections in 2029. BJP is also making corruption allegations.

Congress and Revanth Reddy cornered KCR in the past by leveling serious corruption charges against him in Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project. KTR seems to be trying to turn the Musi project into a ‘Kaleshwaram’ against the Congress party as well as Revanth Reddy.

As the Congress party is yet to implement several key, high-value promises like increasing old age pensions and Rythu Bharosa due to lack of funds, the ongoing narrative that the State government will spend a humongous amount of funds on the Musi project will definitely send wrong signals to people. So, giving so much importance to the Musi project at this juncture is not a good political strategy for Congress, especially Chief Minister Revanth Reddy. Further, though the State government claimed to have implemented farm loan waiver, signals from the ground reveal that a large number of farmers are yet to benefit from it.

Therefore, the Revanth Reddy government should turn its focus from the Musi project to its key election promises like enhancing pension to old age people, a grave necessity. The Chief Minister himself admitted that it would take 18 months for consultants to prepare a detailed project report for the Musi project. Further, going by the past experiences, it will take not less than five years for such large projects to take off. Then why is the Telangana government spending huge amounts on foreign jaunts for MLAs and others at this juncture? All these are ill-advised moves that will give credence to allegations of KTR and Opposition parties.

Nevertheless, the Musi riverfront development is a good initiative that, if implemented with a missionary zeal, will change old Hyderabad’s face for forever and for better. However, instead of land acquisition which will not only lead to the displacement of a large number of people, but will also leave a huge financial burden on the exchequer, the Telangana government should go for land pooling which will make the affected families an integral part of the development process. Further, effective tapping of private investments is also important. Moreover, the State government should implement it with a human touch. That will do a lot of good to the State.