Ramanthapur:Hyderabad’s eastern gateway to progress

Ramanthapur is located in the east zone of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) limits and lies close to Uppal. This is considered one of the fast-developing centres of the city with developments like Arena SEZ, GENPACT, NIIMS (Ghatkesar), Singapore Township and Infosys, which are easily accessible from this location. Notable landmarks include Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL, estd in 1967), Central Detective Training School, Government Homoeopathy College and Government Polytechnic College (estd in 1958), Hyderabad Public School (estd 1972), Doordarshan TV studio (estd 1974), Qutub Shahi Mosque (400 years old), Christ the King Church, etc.

Ramanthapur is on the Warangal Highway with all facilities in reach and is approachable through the Metro Rail which is coming up at Uppal Ring Road. It is also close to the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium and now the Hyderabad Metro Rail is building a metro station in its backyard near Nagole. It is a residential area with over 50 colonies. Important ones being Gokhale Nagar, RTC Colony, Srinivasapuram, Sharada Nagar, Bharat Nagar, Bapu Nagar, Venkat Reddy Nagar, Church Colony, Pragathi Nagar, Endowment Colony, Indira Nagar, SMR Vinay Skycity, Vaishnavi Estates and Creative Raj Residency and many more.

The area is well-connected to other parts of the city via various modes of transportation. It has three different bus stops within a span of 1 km each. One is at TV Studio, another at the petrol bunk and the third one is at Hyderabad Public School. Apart from these, there are buses from Secunderabad at regular intervals which go up to RTC Colony.

There are a lot of shrines here, with around 15 temples, of which Sree Veerabrahmendra Swamy Mutt in Sreenivasapuram, Pochamma temple in Gokhale Nagar, Satyanarayana Swamy temple in Sharada Nagar, Ayyappa Swamy temple in Endowment Colony, Katta Maisamma temple in RTC Colony, Shivalayam in Srinivasapuram and Sai Baba mandir in Bapu Nagar are well-known.

History

According to locals, this place was originally a village known as Rehamathpur (Rehamath + Pur). Rehamath was a lady who owned a jagir during the Nizam’s rule. Subsequently, the village name was changed from Rehamanthpur to Ramanthapur. In the early 1950s, the land was used for agricultural and allied activities with the main source of water from Ramanthapur lakes, Pedda Cheruvu and Chinna Cheruvu, which are fed by rain water coming from the Osmania University campus and its neighbouring areas. The water collected sluiced into the Musi via nalas.

Problems

M Parameshwar Reddy, corporator, Ramanthapur, said, “The government acquired 92 acres in 2004 under Land Acquisition Act in Ramanthapur, which is now occupied by poor and slum dwellers. More than 600 families are living without basic amenities such as power, water, drainage, etc. The government is not providing alternative arrangements for relocation or not coming forward to give the basic needs for their day to day survival. Their representations to the previous governments did not yield any results, and poor people continue to suffer.”

Adding to the woes, the nalas, which are connected to Musi for passage of drain water, is filled with garbage and construction debris. It has since become an unauthorised construction site for local builders and real estate agents. The representation given to irrigation minister T Harish Rao did not yield any results, and encroachments on the nalas and the lakes is rampant

He appealed to the government to look into the matter and save the poor from suffering. On a different note, the NT Rama Rao statue located on the main road opposite to Doordarshan Kendra has been masked with a black cloth for over 6 years and has not been unveiled till date.