Vikarabad Assembly constituency is awaiting an avatar, a leader with vision and political will, to uplift the segment.
Published Nov 28, 2023 | 10:00 AM ⚊ Updated Nov 28, 2023 | 10:00 AM
With the Telangana Assembly elections 2023 just a couple of days away, South First is bringing you ground reports from key constituencies. This series brings you voices from the ground, the mood of the voters, and issues that matter — as well as those that don’t.
From his abode on Ananthagiri Hills, Lord Vishnu, the God of preservation, keeps a watch over Vikarabad, barely five km away. The great maintainer, who, according to the Hindu mythology, has appeared in multiple avatars whenever the gods and humans required Him.
In the mortal world, the Vikarabad Assembly constituency is awaiting an avatar, a leader with vision and political will, to uplift the segment from its current state of affairs, as the voters put it.
Named after the fifth Paigah Amir Nawab Sir Vikar-ul-Umrah Bahadur, Vikarabad is barely 80 km from Hyderabad, the state capital. Yet, the segment presents a poignant picture of neglect, forgotten until the river Musi — or Muchkunda — that originates in Ananthagiri floods Hyderabad, and vies for media space.
Flooding of houses, a routine affair, has long stopped becoming news for many in the segment. The Vikarabad bridge has become a death trap for unsuspecting motorists.
Sitting MLA Anand Methuku addressing a public meeting. (Supplied)
Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao’s 23 November promise of granting a lumpsum amount as part of the Dalit Bandhu scheme if the BRS retained power did not warm up the hearts of the Dalits in the Vikarabad,a reserved Scheduled Cate (SC) constituency.
P Ramesh was born and brought up in Vikarabad. He was a cook and lost his job during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“I began a catering business. I am not a beneficiary of any scheme of Telangana. We keep travelling on our work and my only request is to repair the bridge. Last week, Minister KT Rama Rao visited, and the officials overnight did a makeover with sand,” he said, adding that the bridge has been in a precarious condition.
CH Balaji, a security guard at a private firm in Vikarabad was returning home when South First caught up with him at Marpalle village. He made himself comfortable on a concrete platform by the road.
“I live in Vadera Basthi (SC dominated). Nothing has been completed here. During the rains, the open drainage overflows, inundating the houses. The municipality has not taken our complaints seriously. It requires only a small amount to fix the problem,” he opined.
Vegetable vendor Rajaiah had a sizable number of customers around his cart.
“People are now coming from Hyderabad, asking about our issues. This is a Scheduled Caste dominated area and there are many homeless people. Where is the 2BHK dignity housing in Vikarabad? Do poor people live only in Hyderabad and not in districts or villages,” he sounded indignant
“We applied for ration cards long ago and they haven’t been delivered. Now KCR has announced Sanna Biyaam (super-fine rice). How will we get it without ration cards,” he asked, even as his customers crowded around this correspondent, pouring out their woes.
Vikarabad Assembly constituency. (Click on the image to enlarge)
A few TSRTC employees vented their anger at the BRS government for not keeping its promises.
“Anand Methuku (of the TRS) won last time, but we have not seen any development,” a transport employee said on the condition of anonymity. “During the Munugode bypoll last year, the government said the pending pay revision would be implemented. Now, people are making fun of us” he added.
Meanwhile, MLA Methuku has a different version.
“More than 41 youngsters have been selected as sub-inspectors. We established a dialysis centre and a Girijana Bhavan. In the past five years, I have offered my services as a doctor during the pandemic, which hindered development. Now, over the past one0and-a-half years, we have started the works of a degree college, medical college, and Ayush hospital,” he said during his campaign trail.
On the pending works, he said ₹94 crore has been sanctioned for the bridge in Vikarabad. “We need an outer ring road,” he outlined his plans.
Developing tourism at Ananthagiri, funds for Ananthagiri temple, two bridges, and four-lane roads were all part of his plan.
Those who had received houses under the Indiramma scheme during the term of YS Rajasekhara Reddy, are backing the Congress. Though the houses are in a dilapidated condition, they pledged support to the Congress since the BRS did nothing to repair their homes.
Gaddam Prasad Kumar, who lost to Methuku in 2018, is going door-to-door explaining the Congress’s six guarantees.
“Our MLA (candidate) Prasad is being called corrupt, which is false. He has fought for the development of Vikarabad for years. He lost twice but this time we will make him win,” Congress party worker Karthik said, adding that no one had taken up development works in the constituency like Prasad.
Mohammed Saleem, who runs a bakery on Ramaguda Road, said he would be supporting the BRS. “Recently, Asaduddin Owaisi of the AIMIM campaigned but he did it on behalf of the BRS,” he said.
M Lakshmi, also of Vikarabad town, is a worried woman. She had nearly 10 acres and the municipality turned it into a dump yard. She tried to get the land back and visited the Mandal Revenue Officer multiple times during the past several years.
“The officials said they could not help me as they needed documents to find the records in the Dharani portal. The officers asked me why did I not approach them earlier. I didn’t know it then. My parents are no more and the land has been occupied,” she said,
Lakshmi said several others like her are struggling because the government did not compensate them for acquiring their land.
Another woman, K Rambai, has been living in a single-room Indiramma’s house along with five of her family members. The house is in a dilapidated condition and she complained that no official or politician had ever visited them.
As dusk enveloped the area, she called out to her son to bring a light. The boy carefully brought a lit bulb out so his mother’s photograph could be clicked.
The woman waited at the doorstep as this correspondent left, perhaps, hoping for a better dawn.
Vikarabad is represented by Dr Anand Methuku of the BRS, who defeated his nearest rival G Prasad Kumar (INC) by a margin of 2,993 votes in 2018. The welfare schemes of the BRS government seem to have caught the fancy of a section of the voters in the constituency.
