The TRS Government and Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao owe an explanation to people about the forgotten promise to clean and revitalise the Musi river at an estimated cost of ₹4,000 crore and also about the fate of the ₹344 crore fund given by the Centre for the purpose, demanded Telangana BJP President Bandi Sanjay Kumar on Friday.
“KCR should be made to bathe in these murky waters to make him realise the plight of pollution of this river to take up the cleaning up project. A bottle of this polluted water should be sent to his home. When the government could spend more than ₹1 lakh crore for an original estimated cost of ₹30,000 crore Kaleshwaram project, why could it not allocate sufficient funds for the Musi project,” he questioned.
Continuing his ‘Praja Sangrama Yatra’ (third stage) on the fourth day in the Yadadri-Bhuvanagiri district, the BJP leader interacted with river pollution-affected villagers of Peddaraopalli, where he accused the state government of taking “thousands of crores in loans for the river cleaning and development corporation” but little work is visible on the ground.
“The CM also promised to clean up Hussainsagar and make it a drinking water reservoir. You have to teach him a lesson for going back on his every word made to people. I feel like crying looking at the state of affairs here and listening to you,” he retorted as the villagers poured out their woes due to the pollution with many falling ill, agriculture getting adversely affected and outside people refusing to have any marital alliance with them.
Mr. Sanjay Kumar claimed that during the erstwhile BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government, the then deputy prime minister L.K. Advani had given ₹344 crore for the Musi cleanup in 2002, but no one knows what happened to the funds.
“KCR has promised to make Musi riverfront like the Sabarmati river front but nothing has been done so far with industrial effluents freely being let into the river,” he charged. Elections are far away but he has been reaching out to people to understand their woes despite rain and also to explain the development and welfare schemes of the Modi Government at the Centre, he said and assured that if his party is elected to power, it will take up the comprehensive cleanup of the river and provide succour to the villages.
