HYDRAA, Musi riverfront development project: Where rules don’t apply equally to all; The poor face the wrath while the rich get stays from court.
Published Sep 28, 2024 | 6:48 PM ⚊ Updated Sep 28, 2024 | 7:40 PM
Officials have marked the houses set for demolition on the Musi riverfront
Call it irony. Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha and Congress senior leader Rahul Gandhi welcomed the Supreme Court’s observations on the infamous ‘bulldozer justice’ practiced by BJP governments, in which residences were razed without a fair trial.
In Telangana, where his party is in power, several houses are being demolished or marked to be torn down, reportedly undermining — to borrow from the Congress national leader — “humanity” and “justice”.
First it was HYDRAA and now it is the Musi riverfront project that’s identifying and demolishing ‘encroached’ properties in Telangana’s capital. Even as Revanth Reddy government insists the encroachment clearance drive is unavoidable to save Hyderabad from flooding, the double standards are glaring.
With no consultation, confidence building and, in some cases, without notice, residents are being asked to give up their homes of decades while the influential and rich – like CM Revanth Reddy’s brother – are given ample time to approach court and get stay orders. While educational institutions run by politicians and businessmen in buffer zones are being spared citing ‘academic year’, homes of the poor and the middle class are being razed down without notice. Law, clearly, doesn’t seem to apply equally.
Radhalaksmi is willing to go any distance to save her dream house from being reduced to rubble. She offered to do the dishes at Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy’s residence if she would get a peaceful night’s sleep.
The 35-year-old woman is one among many residents of 78/1 Colony at New Maruti Nagar in Hyderabad Chaitanyapuri, who have lost sleep over the Congress government’s plan to demolish their houses to make way for the ambitious Musi Riverfront Development Project.
“I’ve been unable to sleep or eat anything for the past two days,” a visibly shaken Radhalakshmi told South First. What if they show up at midnight and raze my house,” Radhalakshmi questioned.
Musi Riverfront Development Project was announced in Telangana’s 2024 full budget presented by Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka. He earmarked ₹1,500 crore for the initiative, based on the Thames Riverfront Project in London.
Extraordinary gazette inviting objections and suggestions following the acknowledgement of faulty FTL and buffer zone limits
Musi is a tributary of the Krishna River, flowing across Hyderabad, narrowing and expanding at intervals.
Revanth Reddy aims to develop about 110km of urban area as part of the project. However, this implies large-scale displacement. Several residential colonies are upon the Musi River, often clashing with the government’s Full Tank Limit (FTL) and buffer-zone norms.
The chief minister announced the resettlement of the displaced families in the readily available 2 BHK flats built during the BRS, regime. However, the residents did not appreciate the offer.
Yet, the government is pushing forward the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation handing over keys of 16 apartments to rehabilitate people displaced from the Musi riverfront. While residents living in shanties are open to the government’s proposal to move to pucca 2BHK houses in different parts of the city, those who have built the homes of their dreams are fighting the relocation tooth and nail.
“I live with my husband, his parents, and our two kids. He drives an auto and I am a domestic help,” Radhalakshmi said. The daughter of a farmer couple in the Nalgonda district, she was married to her husband, a relative, at 16, and came to Hyderabad.
Radhalakshmi stated that government will have to take her life before they take her home.
She has been living in the locality for about 20 years. Her in-laws have been residing there for the past 40 years. “My daughter is in her second year of college, and my son is in his 10th class. The government may provide a 2 BHK flat, but what about my children’s education? Are they to discontinue it,” she asked.
Radhalakshmi pointed at the irony of Revanth Reddy’s plan for days to come, even at the peril of children now residing in the colony.
“We have put in our blood, sweat, and tears into this house. We skipped many meals and cut back on little pleasures to save our money. We took a loan to complete the construction. Five years after we started constructing the house, we’ve become encroachers,” she lamented.
Radhalakshmi said peace of mind has been evading her for the past six months. “How can he (Revanth Reddy) say he’ll snatch away my property from me,” she asked while giving South First a tour of her house.
“My mother-in-law got diagnosed with cancer recently. I’m ready to wash all the dishes at his place if it would stop him from taking away our house. As long as he doesn’t take away our identity (our home), I’ll do what it takes,” she stated.
Radhalakshmi refuted the official claim that they would suffer if Musi overflows. “It has never occurred. Additionally, we’re at an elevation,” she pointed out.
The woman sounded adamant about protecting her house. “They’ll have to kill us before they take away our houses,” she declared.
Radhalakshmi’s house.
Radhalakshmi now loathed the moment she voted for Revanth Reddy. “I voted for him to see the kind of development he would bring to this state. If I’d known he would trample our lives, I never would’ve voted him to power.”
“The police and other officials already tried to make the ‘X’ mark in red on our houses. However, we didn’t allow them. Even if they hit us, I’m from a farmer’s family, a daughter of this soil who makes a living washing dishes, I’ll bear the pain but will not allow them to mark my house,” she stated.
Several other residents seconded Radhalakshmi’s opinion, some even considering it karma for not electing BRS back into power.
“KCR gave us amenities, he didn’t try to take our homes away from us. Maybe we betrayed him by voting him out of power and this is the price we’re paying,” a resident lamented.
On 27 September, the residents of New Maruti Nagar took out a sit-in protest against demolition. BJP MLA from the Nirmal constituency, Alleti Maheshwar Reddy, attended the meeting. Speaking to the residents, he called Revanth Reddy’s regime hypocritical and tyrannic.
“Why is there a different justice for his brother Tirupati Reddy and the common folk,” he asked, referring to the stay order on the demolition of the latter’s property in Film Nagar.
He also noted the irony that the same party that had Indira Gandhi, who campaigned under the ‘Gareebi Hatao‘ (remove poverty) slogan, is antagonising the poor.
“This area has been a residential area since at least 1996,” businessman Ashish Agarwal residing near Tank Bund said. “I just got here today after hearing that the government is slowly wiping out these areas.
Demolished buildings in Nalla Cheruvu and Sunnam Cheruvu.
“They’re treating us as if we’re encroachers when in principle, it’s the government that’s encroaching on our lives,” he opined.
“Even if they want to demolish these houses, this is not how they should do it. They should follow due processes and consult the residents, instead of making houses in a red ‘X’ mark, indicating the structures that have to be demolished.
“We got permission for our houses after Revnath Reddy had taken over. So did we become illegal residents overnight,” Radhalakshmi questioned.
“If we are at fault, then so are all the officials who approved our house plans. If we are losing our house, they should lose something to understand the outcome of their decision,” she opined.
To ensure a smooth and hassle-free transition for families relocating from the Musi area, help desks are being set up at all 2 BHK sites. These dedicated support centers will provide on-ground assistance, guidance, and address any queries to help residents settle into their new… pic.twitter.com/11ulX1bZpE
— GHMC (@GHMCOnline) September 28, 2024
“This business was our only source of income. We barely made any profits after paying the rent, EMIs, and salaries,” Vijaya said.
Vijaya’s business after it was razed.
Vijaya owned GR Symbols Digitals with her husband Ravi, a business making publicity materials.
In 2017, they rented out a small piece of land hoping to expand their business near Nalla Cheruvu in Kukatpally. Selling their ancestral lands in the Suryapet district, they invested the money to purchase the necessary equipment.
“We even availed a loan to build a shed on this land despite not owning it. Things were looking up for us as it was around this time that we had many orders,” Vijaya said.
She is among the many victims of the recent HYDRAA demolitions taking place across many lakes in Hyderabad. HYDRAA personnel showed up early in the morning of 22 September in the Nalla Cheruvu area and began demolishing the encroachments.
“My husband received a call from another nearby business at 4 in the morning about potential demolitions. He rushed to the location to try and salvage the equipment, but it was all heavy,” she said.
“Soon after he had arrived, HYDRAA showed up. Scared about the establishment, me and my kids also rushed to the scene,” the mother of two said. “Despite pleading with them, they were indifferent to our pain, my husband fell unconscious and I was stuck in a daze as we saw them destroy our shed with all the equipment and materials inside,” she recalled.
“We were lessees, and it’s not our fault that the land was in the lake’s buffer zone. The land might belong to the government, but they had no right over the things we had inside. We lost about ₹50 lakh. To top it off, they wouldn’t even clean up after themselves,” she lamented.
Despite having lost their source of income, the couple has to continue paying the EMI on their business loan. Additionally, the demolition also rendered 10 of their staff members homeless. They were living in a quarter the couples had constructed for them.
With HYDRAA on a demolition drive, numerous suggestions have been made the make the process humane:
The problem of FTL and buffer zone limits requires emphasis. Before the formation of Telangana in 2014, the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh government recognised faulty limits in 2013. Subsequently, the Ranga Reddy District Collectorate invited objections and suggestions from residents to determine and draw new lines. However, the outcome of this process remains unclear.
Vijaya and her husband are not the only victims of HYDRAA. Starting in August, HYDRAA has demolished structures across the city on weekends including Ameenpur Lake, Nalla Cheruvu (Kukatpally), Sunnam Cheruvu (Madhapur), Bum-Rukn-Ud-Dowla Lake (King’s Colony), and Osman Sagar.
At Sunnan Cheruvu, HYDRAA demolished multiple temporary settlements of daily wage labourers. These makeshift settlements were made out of scrap metal put together. “The government should focus on major offenders, instead of displacing these workers who will eventually leave,” a resident opined.
While a majority of the demolished structures in this area were primarily temporary shelters or stand-alone buildings, there is a gated villa community close to the lake which remains untouched.
“We haven’t received any notification. The only structures demolished are the ones by the lake,” the security guard of the community reported.
At King’s Colony, the residents noted the suddenness of the demolition. “They just showed up and destroyed the buildings. It happened in a flash,” a resident informed.
On 27 September, Buchamma, a 56-year-old housewife died by suicide allegedly out of despair following the demolition of her house near Nalla Cheruvu.
While her family members claim she took her life due to the demolition, the police dismissed the claim as propaganda.
On 28 September, several residents from the planned Musi Riverfront Development Project area took their grievances to the BRS. “It took years of work and money to save and build the house that we have today. Where will we go if we are told we are encroachers and our houses are illegal?” a resident questioned. This was a sentiment echoed by most residents of this area.
(Edited by Majnu Babu).
