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Expressing concerns over the Musi Riverfront Development project, civic activists have appealed to the Telangana government to ensure transparency and hold detailed consultations with residents living along the river before any eviction takes place.
Addressing a press conference at the Somajiguda press club on Friday, November 28, activists under the banner of Musi Jan Andolan questioned the lack of a Detailed Project Report (DPR) for the Rs 1.5 lakh crore project. They estimated that at least 400 families in Malakpet and Chaderghat have been displaced if the project moves forward. The activists sought clarity on how the government plans to carry out evictions without sharing the DPR or consulting affected residents.
The Musi Riverfront Development project is being projected as Chief Minister Revanth Reddy’s flagship initiative. He announced it shortly after the Congress government came to power in December 2023.
CHATRI (Campaign for Housing and Tenurial Rights) founder Varghese Theckanath said that a similar plan to clean up the Musi river was proposed in 1997 under the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) led government and at that time too, there was no Detailed Project Report (DPR). “Back then the government was spending Rs 100 crore and now the amount for Musi redevelopment has increased substantially,” he said.
Varghese also pointed out that the project would end up affecting 1.3 lakh people living alongside the river. “It isn’t fair for the government to dub all these people as encroachers when they have lived here for years on end. If the project is planned keeping people in mind, including and discussing them and done scientifically, we have no objection to it,” he added.
The project has already come under fire when on October 1, 2024, several houses in the Shankarnagar slum were demolished allegedly without any prior warning. Twelve other colonies in Hydershahkota and Bandlaguda Jagir areas are currently facing fears of being demolished. Activists threatened that if the government proceeds in a similar fashion, they will be ready for a “democratic on ground and legal struggle.”
“There are 12-13 colonies in Hydershahkota where middle class families reside and they legally own their houses. The government says that if the Musi river is cleaned then they will be able to also supply water up till Nalgonda district. We aren’t opposed to that but we ask the government to take people living alongside and downstream of the river into consideration,” Vaishali, a resident of Hydershahkota, told the media.
Funding for Musi project
Activists also brought up several media reports that mentioned the Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) funding for the project to the tune of Rs 4,100 crores. However in the press conference, they shared an email written by ADB Senior Urban Development Specialist Momoko Nitta who said that as on date, “it (the project) is not yet listed on the website.”
Momoko added that concerns raised by the activists would be examined by the ADB as part of their due diligence process. Activists pointed out that the government was going ahead with a project even though the funding was not yet in place.
They also asked the government to explain how Falcon Resilient Infra Consultants Company, a private entity, prepared a pre-feasibility report for the Musi project without a DPR in place. Alongside this, the Musi Jan Andolan demanded that the state government make public what action it has taken against pharmaceutical companies for polluting the river.