Intense fight on cards in Dabeerpura bypoll

Dabeerpura: The contestants are gearing up for the upcoming municipal by-election of Dabeerpura ward, to be held on January 22. The seat has been lying vacant after the Mirza Riyaz-ul-Hassan Effendi was elected as a Member of the Legislative Council in February 2018.

This time, all the contestants are from from Shia community. While AIMIM has fielded Mir Basith Ali, TRS is going with Raza Ali Mirza Amjad, while Congress with Mirza Askar Ali Baig and BJP fielded Mirza Aqheel Effendi, who is the cousin of MLC Mirza Riyaz-ul-Hassan Effendi. During last municipal elections TRS party stood in second position and the candidate was Mohammed Zeeshan. But this time observers find the BJP as strong contender to AIMIM, based on the background of the Candidate.

The Dabeerpura ward, surrounded by major areas like Yakutpura, Purani Haveli, Noorkhan Bazar is considered to be the bastion of Shia community. Dabeerpura Darwaza, one of the thirteen original gateways built during the Nizam's rule and served as an entrance to the Purani Haveli, is the important landmark.

Another landmark is Railway over Bridge (RoB) built in 1990. Dabeerpura has the historic places of importance like Bibi ka Alam, Dabeerpura Darwaza, Nizam's museum etc.

According to the official data, Dabeerpura ward falls under the Charminar and Yakutpura Assembly constituencies. Around 70 percent comes under Charminar and 30 per cent in Yakutpura, with a total estimated population of 52,000. Dabeerpura comes under Charminar revenue circle and GHMC's Malakpet circle. There are a total of 49,443 voters in Dabeerpura division, out of which male are 25,474 and female are 23,969. The ward has a total of 66 polling stations, said K Venkatesh senior congress party leader.

Former corporator Mirza-Riyaz-ul-Hassan Effendi has been a winning candidate for the last two terms and now is an MLC from AIMM party. Ever since, several pending issues remained unanswered. According to the residents, there are several major problems including bad roads, sanitation, footpaths, streetlights, pending of major nala works, zero maintenance in Government hospitals and UPHCs etc. are plaguing in Dabeerpura division. None of the major development works has been taken place for several years.

During the Mirza Riyaz's term he has sanctioned several developmental works and most of them were started, but after he became MLC, the position laid vacant and the works were kept in pending. "Several major projects are pending in this ward including the Dabeerpura nala works. It was sanctioned with an amount of Rs 1.9 crore and it is still pending for almost 8 months, even after public representatives and higher officials paid visits several times," said a local.

This year there is a relief for the residents near nala located in Ganga Nagar, as the works of have completed. Earlier during the monsoon season several areas in division faced inundation issues and also flood-like situations on the banks of the rivers with water levels of 4 to 5 feet every year.