BRS MLC Kalvakuntla Kavitha has raised serious concerns over the Musi River Beautification Project and accused the Telangana's Congress-led government of misleading both the public and legislative bodies. Kavitha alleged that while the state government informed the World Bank on September 19 that a Detailed Project Report (DPR) for the initiative had been prepared, it later contradicted this claim during a December 17 legislative session, admitting that the DPR was still in progress.
Speaking in the legislative council on Tuesday, Kavitha questioned how the government could justify seeking a loan of Rs 4,100 crore from the World Bank and Rs 14,000 crore from the central government without a finalised DPR, as per a report on Siasat. She criticised the lack of proper documentation and labeled the project as non-transparent.
"The Congress government in Telangana is taking up a project to clean river Musi for Rs 1.5-lakh crore. When we look at the project for cleaning River Ganga, it has cost Rs 42,000 crore till now. Similarly, projects for cleaning rivers Sabarmati and Narmada. Here, Congress govt has given no details of the project and suddenly applied for a Rs 4,000 crore loan from the World Bank," she said, as quoted by a report on ANI.
Kavitha also accused the government of exploiting the project to displace underprivileged residents along the riverbanks. In the name of cleaning the Musi River, she alleged that the government was demolishing the homes of local residents without offering proper compensation.
The MLC further highlighted the absence of a rehabilitation plan for displaced families, calling it a failure of governance. "Today, we have exposed this non-transparent attitude of the Congress govt both in Council and Assembly. In the name of Musi River cleaning, they (the Telangana govt) are damaging the houses of people in the local area there and also giving no compensation. BRS stands with the poor people living near the Musi River," she said, as per the report.