Hyderabad: Choked for decades, Musi river to get rid of garbage finally

Hyderabad: Work has started to revive a four-km section of the 57-km Musi river stretch. For over a month now, piles of garbage primarily comprising concrete that has choke the river for decades is being removed tonne by tonne.

The stretch from Puranapul to Imlibun has been selected for the first phase of the short-term operation. On Tuesday, a board was set up prohibiting people from dumping waste in the Musi. With the tag line “Musi Lifeline — Own your river”, the board has a camera to film litterers.

In June last year, then municipal minister K.T. Rama Rao asked officials to chalk out a plan to revive the Musi. The High Court also pulled up the government over the pollution in the river.

Earlier this month, the legal service authorities convened a meeting with civic officials on the river clean-up. The direction was to focus on a number of lakes and the Musi.

Mr Ashok Reddy Korem, managing director, Riverfront Development Corporation Limited, told this newspaper: “The aim is to have a long-term plan to revive the river. We are working out strategies at a place where the impact is visible.”

He said 40 per cent of the water entering the Musi was being diverted to the Amberpet sewage treatment plant to cleaning. The Metro Sewerage Board had been asked to prepare a master plan to treat the rest.

Asked where the garbage was being dumped, Mr Reddy said, “Temporarily the waste is being dumped at a site on the riverfront. It will transported to an isolated location identified by the HMDA and dumped in a scientific manner.”

The corporation has taken up renovation of the walls, parks and the walkway. Principal secretary Arvind Kumar recently visited the riverfront and directed the authorities to check the functioning of the rubber dams which appear to be causing water stagnation especially in front of the High Court. A committee of four chief engineers has been formed to study the 12-feet dams and file a report.