The high court, after considering several Acts including the Telangana Irrigation Act and the Water Land and Tree Act (WALTA 2002), ordered that pollution of the river has to stop forthwith. It directed the state government to initiate action against those who encroached on the river beds and lakes.
Published Nov 27, 2024 | 1:46 PM ⚊ Updated Nov 27, 2024 | 1:46 PM
File photo of the Telangana High Court. (Creative Commons)
The Telangana High Court judgement greenlighting the Musi Rejuvenation Project has come as a shot in the arm for the Revanth Reddy-led Congress government in the state. It noted on Tuesday, 26 November, that the intent to cleanse the Musi river should continue at all costs.
The Congress dispensation has taken up what it calls the Musi Rejuvenation Project to make Musi a perennial river, cleanse it and give it a new look.
As part of the plan, the state government had planned to develop the Musi river bank into an economic hub, on the lines of the Thames river bank in London. Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy had said the project entailed an investment of ₹1.5 lakh crore.
On Tuesday, state ministers, including the chief minister, met Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and sought the Union government to transfer 222 acres of Defence land at Bapu Ghat in Hyderabad, located at the confluence of Musi and Esa where the Mahatma Gandhi’s ashes were immersed.
The government intends to develop the area into a major tourist centre to perpetuate the memory and teachings of Gandhi.
The high court, after considering several Acts including the Telangana Irrigation Act and the Water Land and Tree Act (WALTA 2002), ordered that pollution of the river has to stop forthwith. It directed the state government to initiate action against those who encroached on the river beds and lakes.
The court held that the Hyderabad Disaster Response and Asset Monitoring Agency (HYDRAA) could be used to clear all illegal constructions in the river bed, buffer zone and full tank level of the river after following due process of law.
It also referred to the Revenue Act that the erstwhile Nizam era had brought in in 1917 after which rivers, lakes and hills were declared as resources of the community and that the government alone would have authority over them.
However, the high court judgement on evictions on the Musi river bed and banks has a human face to help the disadvantaged sections who live there. The court made it clear that the Musi dwellers should be provided decent accommodation and attractive compensation.
Justice CV Bhaskar Reddy delivered the verdict on 46 petitions before him that challenged the constitution of HYDRAA and the razing of houses on the Musi river bank after clubbing all of them to the same issue.
Upholding the constitution of HYDRAA, the court said that there was nothing illegal about it. The court pointed out that the HYDRAA was created by Government Order (GO) 99 under the Telangana Irrigation Act. The Act proscribed allotment of hill areas and rivers to anyone as they happened to be community resources meant for the public good.
The court asked the state government to conduct a socio-economic survey of the status of those who are going to be affected by the project and take care of their needs and protect their interests which they used to have while living on the Musi River bank.
It further directed that the affected people should be provided decent accommodation and ensure all the benefits that are available under the state government’s schemes to them, to help them find their feet at the place to which they would be relocated.
However, the court made it clear that those who had encroached on the Musi river bed and banks should be prosecuted under the Telangana Irrigation Act and WALTA 2002.
“The government should ensure that pollution of the river should stop immediately. It should ensure that sewage water would not enter the river,” the high court said.
Furthermore, the court directed the people living in the Full Tank Level (FTL) or buffer zones of rivers and lakes to cooperate with the agencies to determine whether their houses were constructed illegally and if there is a need for them to be demolished.
The court asked the government to provide police protection to the agencies tasked with the implementation of its orders.
It said that the government should remove all illegal structures in the Musi riverbed and FTL and the buffer zone before a specific deadline.
“While demolishing such buildings, the government has to mandatorily follow the guidelines issued by the Supreme Court in the past and no demolitions should be done without issuing notices to the owners,” the high court said.
The petitioners sought the court to direct HYDRAA as illegal and also brought to it the notices that the houses that it had pulled down and the ones that they were planning to raze down were given clearances by the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) and Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC).
They also alleged that the government has not done any survey but acted posthaste to pull down their buildings. They insisted that HYDRAA has no power to raze any building.
The government, represented by the Additional Advocate General (AAG), argued that the buildings were not razed blindly. The AAG brought to the court’s notice that the Musi dwellers were being shifted after obtaining their consent.
He said that they were going ahead with the help of satellite maps. The AAG apprised the court that in the 50-metre buffer zone, there were 10,017 constructions of which 2,166 were in the riverbed. The AAG said that 15,000 double-bedroom houses had been allotted for those to be evicted in September and that 319 families have already been relocated.
(Edited by Muhammed Fazil.)
