KTR slams ‘Bulldozer Raj’ over Musi Project

Bharat Rashtra Samithi Working President K.T. Rama Rao on Thursday accused Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy of bringing a “bulldozer raj” to Telangana in the name of the Musi River development project, alleging that the government was planning to demolish nearly 1.5 lakh houses belonging to poor families.

Speaking to the media after visiting areas along the Musi River, KTR said development of the river was possible without any destruction or displacement. He alleged that while the BRS model focused on development without demolishing houses, the Congress government had chosen a “bulldozer model” that would displace lakhs of poor residents.

KTR, along with BRS MLAs, former ministers and senior party leaders, inspected the Musi development works taken up earlier by the previous BRS government in the Nagole area. He also interacted with families who claimed they would be affected by the proposed project and assured them that the party would stand by them.

The BRS leader alleged that the Congress government was planning large scale demolitions under the guise of river beautification and warned that BRS leaders and workers would physically resist any attempt to demolish the houses of poor families.

“If the government tries to bring bulldozers to demolish the homes of the poor in the name of the Musi project, every BRS worker will stand in front of those machines,” he said.

KTR claimed that during the BRS regime, around 5.5 km of the Musi River was developed in the Nagole stretch without causing inconvenience to a single family. He said the same model could be followed to develop the river without resorting to demolition or displacement.

He further alleged that the Congress government’s Musi project was aimed at facilitating large scale corruption. According to him, a comprehensive detailed project report was earlier prepared that could complete the entire Musi rejuvenation work for around Rs 16,000 crore, including sewage treatment, bringing clean water from Kondapochamma reservoir and building skyways on both sides of the river.

However, he alleged that the present government was trying to inflate the project cost to nearly Rs 1.5 lakh crore for “massive corruption”.

KTR said the BRS supported the beautification of the Musi but would strongly oppose any attempt to destroy the homes of poor people. He also said the issue would be raised prominently during the upcoming Assembly session.