Residents are protesting the demolition of the Musi River, demanding compensation

CPI(M) activists protesting against the Musi River Development Project at Praja Bhavan in Hyderabad on Saturday. | Photo Credit: RAMAKRISHNA G

People living near the Musi river in Hyderabad staged a protest at Bahadurpura and Telangana Bhavan to express their concern over the ongoing demolition drive related to the Musi river beautification project. Families from various affected areas started gathering at 7 am, seeking support from Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leaders to save their homes.

A large number of people gathered at Bahadurpura flyover around 11.30 am and staged a demonstration raising slogans against the Hyderabad Disaster Response and Asset Protection Agency (HYDRAA) and the ruling Congress party.

Officials of Hyderabad’s South Zone said they had deployed law enforcement personnel and command posts to control the crowd. The representatives of this group were taken to the Bahadurpura MRO office by the police.

The residents wanted to be compensated by paying the land registration fee, electricity and other bills in the areas called ‘invaded lands’. “How can the government mark the areas to be demolished without notifying the residents? If you want to demolish these encroached areas, why do we pay tax, registration, electricity bill and other services? The money released can be used to clean the river instead of demolishing the houses of so many families,” said one of the protesters.

Meanwhile, Bahadurpura MRO Chandrashekar said that part of the residents have expressed their willingness to relocate if the government provides them with 2BHK houses. “We spoke to some of our representatives and told them that we are only marking areas and we will not demolish them immediately. We also learned that their wishes and requests differ from place to place. While some are willing to move out and live in 2BHK houses, others who live in three-storey buildings want three places to accommodate their families. “Some say they should be compensated so they can move to another place,” said MRO.

Meanwhile, a group of protesters again gathered at Telangana Bhavan on Saturday morning. About 60 odd police officers from the Central Zone police force have been deployed as bandobasts. No one was arrested by the police on Saturday.