Hyderabad: The Musi river bed in the central parts of Hyderabad has become a money-spinner for muscle-men and anti-social elements. Though the river bed was earlier used as grassland to raise fodder for animals, its central location and growing land prices in the last four decades have caught the attention of goons who have taken control over the large extent of land to either use the same or sub-lease it to others to carry out a number of nefarious ‘trading’ activities. Many have made crores in the last couple of decades as there is check by government agencies.
Some local pahelwans at Puranapul constructed hundreds of single-room shanties in the riverbed. One of them constructed over 200 rooms in Maharajula Colony and nearby areas and is collecting ₹ 3000 as monthly rent for each shanty. Most of the tenants are from Uttar Pradesh , Bihar and Madhya Pradesh, who work as hamalis in Begum Bazaar and other trading centres.
In the Musi downstream area of Afzalgunj, the riverbed is being used as a paid parking lot for cars, cabs and other vehicles. This is patronised by families of patients coming to Osmania general hospital.
The Shivaji bridge area, given its proximity to the State Central Library and MGBS, is a hub for a number of trading activities. The musclemen have given the land on lease to others to carry out the business. The land is being used for parking of travel buses and passengers. Those who control the parking yard charge ₹ 400 per day for each vehicle. This parking yard is alone helping people to make lakhs of rupees in a month.
Rameshwar, who drives a private travels bus to Mysore, said that he parks the vehicle three days in a week. A goods transport company, which has its head office at Afzalgunj, has opened its branch office in the Musi river near Shivaji Park.
One Ahmed, who works for the goods transport firm, said that they get at least 2,200 to 3,000 orders per day. Proximity to Madina, Gowliguda Chaman, Koti and other trade centres, helps them receive and send goods on inter-state city routes.
Hundreds of migrant workers from Rayalaseema are engaged in scrap collection. They reside near Shivaji Park. Scrap collector Laxmi Narsamma, who has been residing in the area for 25 years, states that her mother and many other settled down in the place around 30 years ago. Some operators control these workers and collect scrap from them and send the same in trucks to industrial areas for processing.
The river bed is also being used to grow nursery and run motor-vehicle repair garage centres. GHMC staff recently visited several areas in the Musi river bed and placed the ‘x’ mark for demolition.
