Musi Development project in Telangana: Riverfront dream with a human cost

Telangana government’s attempt at eviction of residents from the Musi riverbed in the name of riverfront development resulted in raucous uproar, while the real problems remain muted. Swathi Vadlamudi brings out the unexplored angles of the Musi Development project in light of the chronic ailments of the water body
Shaikh Mujahid’s melancholic gaze ricochets off the walls of the closely built tenements before settling on the floor, littered with red bricks and cardboard. “This was where my grandchildren used to play,” he says, his voice heavy as he gestures towards the verandah now buried under rubble.

In his late 50s now, Mujahid once shared this home — a modest structure on 156-square-yard plot divided into small units of two rooms, a kitchen, and a toilet each — with his three sons, a daughter and their families. Located in Shankar Nagar, a slum in Hyderabad’s Chaderghat area, the house was built 12 years ago with the combined savings of his four children. Barely 30 feet away, the shrinking Musi River snakes through the 435-year-old city.