Will ensure Old City get rid of ‘largest urban slum’ tag: Cong

Hyderabad: Outlining the Congress party’s ‘positive approach’ and ‘comprehensive development agenda’, the Congress candidate from Hyderabad constituency Waliullah Sameer said that his party does not wish to allow the Old City area to remain the ‘largest urban slum’ in Telangana. He said that the Congress has a clear plan to achieve meaningful progress and to ensure that this tag is gone forever.

Along with Congress senior leaders, including Charminar in-charge Mujeebullah Shareef, Bahadurpura in-charge P Rajesh, Chandrayangutta in-charge Boya Naresh, Yakutpura in-charge Ravi Raj and other leaders, Sameer spoke to the media on Monday ahead of a major roadshow in the Yakutpura segment of the Hyderabad Lok Sabha constituency.

Waliullah Sameer accused MIM and BJP of treating both Hindus and Muslims as mere vote banks. He highlighted that key projects like Charminar Pedestrianisation and Musi River rejuvenation remained incomplete due to a lack of funding and bureaucratic inertia. He criticised the MIM for neglecting the Old City's development and accused the BJP-led Central government of failing to allocate funds for Hyderabad's growth. "They are not interested in the development of Hyderabad," he said.

He said the Congress Government in Telangana has already initiated projects worth over Rs. 50,000 crore in the Old City, including the Hyderabad Metro Rail and the Musi Riverfront Development Project. The party also plans to build IT Towers in Malakpet. Sameer also promised to provide jobs for 5,000 youth, arrange subsidised loans to 50,000 jobless young people from the Old City, and lay the foundation for a super-speciality hospital within 100 days if elected to Parliament.

Sameer criticised MIM and the BJP for dividing Hyderabad along communal lines, a pattern that began in 1962 and intensified after the emergence of the BJP in 1984. He accused both parties of neglecting the people's needs and perpetuating stagnation. "They have done nothing for the voters while enabling each other to survive and grow. This is the time for change," he emphasised.