Hyderabad: Corporators spending almost nil on development works in Shaheennagar and surroundings the civic problems galore in the neighbourhoods.
Data obtained under the Right to Information Act by Kareem Ansari, a resident of Shaheennagar, show that the local legislator has spent Rs 8 crore from his constituency development funds in the last three years for development work in all areas of his constituency except Shaheenagar, Sadathnagar, Errakunta, Jalpally and Wadi-e-Mustafa, which are Muslim dominated.
Shaheennagar and its surroundings fall in the Maheshwaram constituency of Teegala Krishna Reddy, who has spent Rs 8.25 crore in 2014-15, 2015-16 and 2016-17 on development work, including a few lakhs donated to the Saroornagar and Meerpet police for installing community closed circuit cameras.
“All the money was spent across the constituency except for minority-dominated pockets in his constituency. In fact, the villages of Kandukur, Maheshwaram, and Meerpet are spick and span in contrast to Shaheennagar and its surroundings, which lack even basic amenities,” Mr Ansari said.
Mr Teegala Krishna Reddy says that several colonies in Shaheenagar and surroundings areas have come up on government land or the layouts are not sanctioned.
“As per the rules, developmental funds are not provided to illegal layouts and colonies which have come up on government lands. Despite, the problems, I have taken up some works including laying of cement concrete roads,” he said.
Illegal or not, the problems of the people living in neglected Shaheennagar are many and real — open drains, poor garbage collection, no tap water or street lighting, etc. The colonies have come up in the last 15 years and not much has changed in that time.
“People still put up big electric bulbs in front of their houses to illuminate the road,” says Mohammed Naseer, resident of Sadathnagar, pointing to the lack of something as basic as street lighting.
Around 40,000 people live in the middle class and lower middle class dominated neighbourhood. “Not much has changed after the area was brought under the Jalpally municipality. There are no funds and the MPTCs continue to take up small works in their areas of interest,” Mr Ansari said.
