Hyderabad: The Rs 722-crore Musi River Front project that promised to breathe new life into the river, seems to have been just on paper, as no major development has taken place yet.
Among the five STPs that were to be installed, the three major ones at Attapur, Nagole and Amberpet are not functioning effectively. As a result, untreated sewage is still entering the river.
Commissioning of the STPs at different areas by the Water Board was supposed to improve the water quality. However, the STPs have not been very effective. The one at Amberpet is dysfunctional. The other two — at Nagole and Attapur — have lesser capacity.
All this has given a boost to the usual skepticism among bureaucratic circles, as even the river front development done by the GHMC in front of the High Court was not a big success.
“There are about 18 major drains and a few local drains from various colonies that directly discharge raw sewage into the Musi,” said a senior GHMC official who did not wanted to be named.
Although last year, the Andhra Pradesh High Court had directed the state government to make alternative arrangements to check direct discharge of sewage water into the river till the completion of the beautification project, no such work has been done by the sewage board.
“Grass cultivation on the river bed is another stumbling block. About 68,924 square yards is patta land and there are disputes as the agriculturists claim that the agriculture patta was given to them by the Nizam,” the official added.
According to the GHMC official, the project could not successfully take off because of the patta land issues. The revenue department is working on it.
“This has been the issue since years. To solve the problem, there should be a powerful and dedicated team. The team should speak to all the stakeholders of the river in a convincing manner. Once this happens, other things will fall in place,” said Anant Maringanti, an environmentalist.
