After HC rap, Musi river to get protection

Hyderabad: Following the High Court’s direction, the Musi Riverfront Development Corporation (MRDC) has finally woken up to protect the Musi river from illegal dumping of building waste.

The MRDC conducted a survey along with the Revenue Department, the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation and the police and identified 16 locations prone to regular dumping of debris, and have decided to install CCTV cameras to find out who is doing the dumping.  

MRDC authorities claim that CCTV access has been given to 11 police stations along the Musi stretch. The authorities have taken the list of registered tippers from the RTA department as these carry building waste and will also conduct a review meeting with various associations to curb the illegal dumping of debris.

Following a meeting held by Chief Justice of the Telangana state High Court Raghvendra Singh Chauhan on conservation of lakes and development of the Musi river, in May, MRDC MD K. Ashok Reddy asked the help of station house officers (SHOs) and traffic officials to curb illegal dumping.

The MRDC asked Hyderabad City Police Commissioner Anjani Kumar to enhance patrolling in and around the Musi to prevent the dumping of solid waste into the water body.

Apart from this, MRDC authorities have asked the police department to install CCTV cameras at locations where illegal dumping of building waste takes place.

Responding to the request, Mr Kumar assigned the Musi protection job to 11 SHOs  including T. Komaraiah (Golconda PS), G Srinivas (Langer Houz PS), D. Durga Prasad (Bahadurpura PS), P Shankaraiah (Kulsumpura PS), B. Chand Basha (Shahinayat Gunj PS), G Venkateshsham (Afzal Gunj PS), G. Nagaraju (Chaderghat PS), N. Buchaiah (Charminar PS), J. Ravinder (Amberpet PS), S. Janaki Reddy (Kachiguda PS) and K.V. Subba Rao (Malakpet PS). He also assigned L. Raja Venkat Reddy, an inspector with the IT cell to co-ordinate with MRDC officials over installation of CCTV cameras in 16 locations.

However, highly placed sources in the MRDC said that though police can catch the violators, the police do not have the authority to penalise them and neither has the MRDC. When queried, a senior MRDC official said that it was the duty of the Revenue Department and the GHMC. He said that access to CCTV cameras will be given to all departments including revenue, GHMC, traffic police, law and order police and Road Transport department to identify the violators. He said that revenue and the civic body will impose penal amounts (which are yet to be decided). “The police department will seize vehicles during a second violation. For repeated offenders, the transport department will cancel the driving licence of the driver and vehicle,” the official said.

The MRDC official further said that the corporation would erect signboards against dumping building waste at the 16 identified locations.

He said that tenders for CCTV cameras have been invited by the police department. He said that cameras will be installed in a week and monitoring will begin within 15 days. The official also said fencing of the Musi has proved to be ineffective and they are chalking out alternative plans to stop residents living along the river from dumping the derbies.