Habsiguda Once a suburb, now a road to hell

Habsiguda is a major suburb located at the eastern end of the city in between Tarnaka and Uppal. It is one of the major commercial and residential locations in Hyderabad with IT, education, pharma and recreational centres with busiest roads connecting Uppal to Hitec City.

Major landmarks are Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium and Osmania University. It has grown as popular shopping area for locals with family shopping malls that include leading brands, such as Raymond, Titan, Levis, Elecronic goods shops, major public sector banks, educational institutes and hospitals.

It has popular restaurants like 78° East Restaurant, Hyderabad House, Krishna Residency, Suruchi, Taste Buds, Spice of India (Bar), Suprabhat, Swagat Grand, Dahlia Spicy Food Court, Chocolate Room, Subway and Blue Orchid. Genpact and Elegant Chemical are the main pharmaceutical companies.

Famous research institutes are Center for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Indian Institute of Chemical Technology, National Geophysical Research Institute, Central Food Technology Research Institute - Resource Center and Indian Statistical Institute.

TSRTC buses connect to all parts of the city. It is 5 km to Secunderabad Railway Station (SCR) and 30 km to Rajiv Gandhi International Airport.

The closest MMTS train station is Sitaphalmandi. Hyderabad Metro Rail has a route covering from Nagole to Shilparamam, which is laid via Habsiguda, has two stops; one at National Geophysical Research Institute and other at Habsiguda crossroads.

History

The name Habsiguda is derived from Habshi, which was a common term referring to Africans, although it relates to Abyssinia, an ancient name for Ethiopia in Africa.

This barren land was a cattle ground for Nizams of Deccan Princely State and was the home of the African troops in Nizam's military. Abyssinian's used to be brought as slaves and later as labourers by Nizams to take care of their cattle.

The Habeesis lived for decades in and around this place. One can still find these communities in many parts of old city, especially in Barkaas.

Later, Habsiguda was occupied by many construction and plantation labourers, who were brought from surrounding districts to construct Osmania University by Asaf Jah, the VII Osman Ali Khan Bahadur, who was then Nizam.

Habsiguda remained as a hamlet under Nacharam Village until 1981 and later became Grampanchayat under Uppal Kalan Municipality. Now, it is a part of the GHMC.

Local residents said that in 1960s it was a bullock cart and pedestrians way, which grew rapidly from 1990s because of the city's growth in the suburbs.

Problems:

Increasing number of unauthorised encroachments and illegal constructions from street 1 to 8 has led to many litigant cases, which are pending in courts.

The lands are in the jaws of land sharks resulting in reduction in land area every year; the original campus area of 1,700 acres is now 1,400 acres.

In a recent meeting was held with vice chancellors and registrars at Secretariat by Kadiyam Srihari, Minister for Education, with an agenda of saving the OU lands and restoring back grabbed lands. Directions have been given to university authorities to develop boundary wall to prevent further encroachment and punish the violators.

By:Ch Saibaba