Making it clear that the Telangana government will go ahead with the Musi Riverfront Development Project, Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy on Thursday came down heavily on Opposition parties for trying to stall the project by provoking people.
He alleged that Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leaders K.T. Rama Rao, T. Harish Rao, and Sabitha Indra Reddy were doing politics in the name of the poor to save their illegally-built farmhouses.
He said the illegally-built farmhouses were discharging sewage into the Himayat Sagar and Osman Sagar reservoirs, which are drinking water sources for Hyderabad.
Stating that the government has sanctioned 15,000 two-bedroom houses for people living illegally in the Musi river bed and buffer zone and is paying the families Rs 25,000 each, CM Reddy said all measures were being taken to take care of people who will be relocated from areas along the river.
CM Reddy launched a scathing attack on the BRS while addressing a public meeting in Secunderabad here to launch a pilot project of Digital Family Cards.
Amid the ongoing protests by some people, whose illegal houses and other structures along the Musi River bed were marked by authorities for demolition, CM Reddy defended the project saying cleaning and conserving the river was essential to prevent floods and address the problem of pollution.
“When the government has taken up the project with good intentions and in the interest of the people, the Opposition parties are not only opposing it but playing politics by exploiting the sentiments of the poor,” he said and alleged that BRS was hiring people for protests.
Admitting that some residents were angry over the project, CM Reddy said this was a project for the future of all people and the state.
CM Reddy asked both the BRS and BJP if there could be a better alternative to double-bedroom houses being given to people who had encroached upon the Musi river bed and buffer zone.
He suggested that BRS leaders give Rs 500 crore from their party fund of Rs. 1,500 crore for the Musi Riverfront project.
He invited K.T. Rama Rao and Harish Rao to come to the Secretariat saying he was ready to discuss the project with them.
Revanth Reddy slammed BJP leaders for opposing the project and asked whether they did not want a project in the state on the lines of the Sabarmati Riverfront development taken up by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Gujarat.
He asked BJP MPs from Telangana to go to Prime Minister Modi and seek Rs 25,000 crore for the Musi river project.
CM Reddy said the government would call an all-party meeting to discuss the Musi project and said the government was open to suggestions to provide better alternatives to the people who would be affected by the project.
Stating that there was 1000 acres of land in Jawahar Nagar, the Chief Minister said the government can give Indiramma houses to people to be relocated from Musi.