What happened to Bhagyanagar Urban Devpt Authority, asks BJP

Hyderabad: When BJP during its high-decibel campaign declared that it would rename Hyderabad as Bhagyanagar, it created a political storm.

Keeping political considerations apart, let us delve into an interesting story of two urban development authorities which had their headquarters in Hyderabad in the 1980s, in the erstwhile United Andhra Pradesh.

One urban development authority was the Quli Qutub Shah Urban Development Authority (QQSUDA) which was established in 1982. The QQSUDA was launched with a noble intention for the development of the Old City on par with the new city. But this authority has always been starved of funds and though it exists, it has become redundant. It has no powers, no funds and it lacks proper furniture.

There was another urban development authority called the Bhagyanagar Urban Development Authority (BUDA). One of the relics of the BUDA that surfaced in the form of a foundation stone laid by the then Chief Minister T Anjaiah on September 2, 1981 says that BUDA was the sister organisation of QQSUDA and it pre-existed before QQSUDA.

The foundation stone plaque installed by the Bhagyangar Urban Development Authority, says, it is "Nagarika Vanijya Kendra at Vigyan Chowk. It further stated that the urban development authority formed in the name of Bhagyangar had M Balaiah as its chairman and Ramesh Grover, an IAS officer, as its vice-chairman. However, what happened to this civic body? Was it dissolved? If so, when is not known.

The BJP leaders, who dug out this information, on Monday said that when there was a civic body with the name of Bhagyanagar why should the present-day political parties, including the AIMIM be so touchy about the word Bhagyanagar? This name has also been given to many cooperative banks. Hence, the TRS and AIMIM have no reason to criticise the BJP when it said that it would change the name of Hyderabad as Bhagyanagar, they said.