Want to beautify Musi planting saplings on graves of poor?

Hyderabad: Union Minister and Telangana State BJP chief G Kishan Reddy warned Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy against planting saplings over the graves of the poor to beautify the Musi Riverfront. On Wednesday, he visited Musarambagh, Ambedkar Nagar, Tulsi Nagar, and Krishna Nagar in the Amberpet constituency, where he interacted with slum dwellers and listened to their grievances. He stated that the poor have built their houses brick by brick and have lived in those houses for decades, with roads, water connections, and other civil amenities provided with public money.

After many years, the Congress government has now decided to demolish houses in the name of beautification. "No government has the right to demolish the houses of the poor. Governments should provide housing for the poor instead of demolishing them," he asserted. He warned CM Revanth Reddy of serious consequences if bulldozers were sent to demolish the homes of the poor. Kishan Reddy assured the people of the Musi catchment areas and visited the victims of families displaced by the beautification efforts.

He stated that the destruction carried out by the Congress government in the state, under the pretext of demolishing illegal structures, is terrorizing the people to an unprecedented extent. He charged that the government, in the name of HYDRA, is destroying the lives of poor people. Kishan Reddy expressed his pain over witnessing the suffering of the residents in the Musi catchment areas, which he deemed unacceptable.

Expressing anger over the demolition drives, he claimed that the Congress government is conspiring to demolish the houses of the poor in the Musi catchment areas without providing alternative housing. He remarked that both the previous BRS government and the current Congress government have acted harshly towards the people living in slums and those in the Musi catchment areas. Reddy highlighted that former Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao had established the Musi Development Corporation and had marked houses for demolition similarly to HYDRA, without offering a single house to the poor in the ten years of BRS rule.

Currently, the Congress government intends to spend Rs1.5 lakh crore on Musi beautification. "Let the state government first spend Rs 50,000 crore to build houses for the poor if it is sincere about Musi beautification and development," he stated. Hundreds of residents expressed their fear of HYDRA, uncertain of when bulldozers would arrive to demolish their homes. They raised slogans against CM Revanth Reddy, accusing him of destroying the lives of the poor by demolishing their houses.

Later, Kishan Reddy held a meeting with BJP leaders and workers from the Secunderabad Parliamentary Constituency at the state office of the BJP regarding the party membership enrollment drive. He took stock of the memberships completed thus far and made suggestions to further intensify enrollment efforts in the constituency. The Union Minister also released a short film titled “Tomorrow Will Not Take Care of Itself,” created by student PT Vedula, emphasizing the importance of environmental conservation. Earlier in the morning, he paid tribute to the statue of Mahatma Gandhi on Gandhi Jayanti at Mahatma Gandhi Chowk, MG Road, Secunderabad, and participated in a street cleaning initiative at Secunderabad Paradise and Kalasiguda Park Line Road as part of the Swachh Bharat program.