Musi beautification not a good idea: Activists

Hyderabad: Politicians and activists find fault with the beautification concept of River Musi and term it as shallow talk if it was taken up without removing the encroachments and stopping of the sewerage inflows. Activists are questioning the sincerity of the State government with regard to strengthening the catchment area and stopping storm water inflows in to the Musi River.

Interestingly, no remarkable breakthrough has been witnessed in the Musi River Beautification Project so far even as the State government has been announcing that it would be taking up the works for the last two years now.

Speaking to The Hans India here on Friday, Lubna Sarvat, a renowned activist, said that the entire exercise of river beautification would be shallow if the government fails to address the issue of catchment area encroachments, sewerage inflows and construction debris or garbage being dumped in the river.

She said, “South and North catchment areasare completely encroached, thus stopping the water flow. The government do not have any action plan to maintain the rain water directly flowing into the river.”

Without any decentralised plan of action for the protection of river from pollution by the pharma industry, domestic wastes or sewerage and debris, river beautification project would be a farce.

The State government has planned to develop Musi River on the lines of Sabarmati River of Gujarat. The estimated cost is approximately Rs 1,665 crore and part of the amount would be released under the first phase and the remaining amounts later.

Musi River Beautification Corporation was recently formed and a new office was also setup by the Municipal Administration and Urban Development Minister K Taraka Rama Rao. He vowed that the river would be beautified and would be made a major tourist hub in the coming days.

MBT leader Amjadullah Khan Khaled alleged that the State government was not at all serious regarding the beautification of the river since it has not even equipped with the wherewithal that it needed for the protection of river from encroachment.

First and foremost, there was a need to start working on the beautification should be stopping the encroachments in the river, he argued. He said that there has been lot of complaints of encroachments against people, agencies and religious structures in the past but the authorities never paid heed instead shifted the responsibility on one another.

Due to the constant encroachments and negligence by the authorities concerned, Musi River has become a sewerage Nala over several years and government must take concrete steps to save it instead of big talk, he added.