The Justice Movement of India organised a round-table discussion on the challenges and solutions to making Hyderabad flood-free
The round-table conference hosted by the Justice Movement of India (JMI) on Sunday, 3 November, shed light on the complex issue of recurring floods in Telangana’s capital Hyderabad.
The discussion, held at the Sundarayya Vignana Kendram in Bagh Lingampally, involved environmental experts, social activists, and other stakeholders.
It delved into the historical context, current challenges, and potential solutions to mitigate the city’s water woes.
Misinterpretation and the cascading effect
Mazarhussain is a peace activist who has worked to promote communal harmony in Hyderabad for the last 30 years. “‘Ek Phasal Patta‘ (one crop endowment), was the first form of rights handed to farmers to operate near a lake,” Mazarhussain explained.
“The Nizams endowed the farmers with rights to cultivate a single crop in the lake before the monsoons as the land would be fertile. By July, they had to reap whatever crops remained and leave that land, anticipating the lake swelling due to the monsoons,” he continued.
However, the conditional rights to farm didn’t persevere over time as the Indian government took over from the Nizams. “The early translators responsible for the legislation of new laws for Hyderabad committed the conditional nature of the ‘patta.’ Instead of making it a conditional endowment, they made it permanent,” he reported.
He traced this change in the nature of the endowment as one primary contributor to the unwilling encroachments on lakes today. “When you made these pattas permanent, you made them eligible for all of the government’s services, disregarding the lake’s natural cycles. Giving these endowments is the government’s fault; the people should not face punishment for it,” he added.
Additionally, he noted that the campaign to make Hyderabad flood-free cannot be a limited one. “Even if we succeed now, it’ll happen again in a decade if the efforts are not sustained,” he opined. Recalling an interaction with a flood victim he narrated that when asked if the water entered his house, the victim responded that it was him who entered the water’s house long back.
‘Tackling pollution, climate change is the priority’
“When it rains, Hyderabad’s roads become waterways,” Babu Rao, an environmental expert lamented. Noting that a global city needn’t replicate a concrete jungle, he said that Hyderabad could learn to build self-contained and sustainable cities like Paris and Barcelona.
Stating that there is no need to commercialise or beautify Musi, he said: “Before investing gargantuan amounts into superficial development, clean up Musi. The government has permitted industries to discharge their wastes into the river, and yet it talks of beautifying it.”
He also opined that a developing nation like India must prioritise where it spends money, holding that investing in Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs) is more important. He also observed that the Telangana Pollution Control Board does not have the power to issue orders to the Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (HMWSSB), leading to bureaucratic inefficiency.
“The government talks about rejuvenating the state’s water bodies while obstructing itself by giving way to deforestation in Damagudem,” Kranti Dal leader Dr Prithvi observed.
Noting that the Hyderabad Disaster Response and Assets Protection Agency (HYDRAA) only took disproportionate corrective measures against the middle and lower-middle-class people, he pointed out that high-rise estates were major encroachers on the city’s lakes.
“The government is also saying that they are basing the Musi project off the Cheonggyecheon stream of the Han River in South Korea. That stream was built after extensive consultation, will they do the same in Hyderabad,” he asked.
Similarly, Telangana Vittal, a journalist also noted that climate change was causing urban flooding across the world. “Climate change is leading to changes in the monsoon cycles worldwide. With encroachments on most urban lakes worldwide, urban flooding is becoming a global phenomenon,” he observed.
Also Read: The forgotten Nizam-era palaces of Hyderabad
A call for politics sans profit
An opinion that echoed throughout the discussion was that of the dramatic shift in politics. “Today, politics has become the homestead for business, not for public service,” Dr Prithvi opined. “While all the intellectuals and experts are sitting in this hall discussing issues, incompetent leaders are legislating it,” he lamented.
Baburao also seconded this observation, stating: “Earlier, most politicians were involved with the freedom struggle. However, now that power has been passed down two or three generations, it’s not about the public any longer.”
Bhadri, another community leader, also echoed this opinion. “Telangana has disillusioned leaders mistreating Hyderabad and misleading the future,” he said.
A list of demands
The JMI revealed that they met HYDRAA commissioner Ranganath and submitted a list of 15 demands from the organisation including:
- Formulating a comprehensive policy,
- Conducting a complete survey,
- Removing encroachments,
- Compensating and rehabilitating victims,
- Restoring water bodies, and
- Installing functioning STPs, among others.
(Edited by Muhammed Fazil)
