500 people petition Chief Minister against Musi project

Over 500 people, including those directly affected by the Musi Riverfront Project, in an open appeal to the Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy, demanded that alternative proposals for river rejuvenation and river-basin ecology conservation be diligently considered in relation to the project.

The Cabinet Sub-Committee constituted by the government should not just be limited to overseeing the implementation of the ‘flawed’ riverfront project, said the letter, also signed by activists, experts, environmentalists and concerned citizens from across the country.

Initiated by the Musi Jan Andolan, a city-based collective of citizens and activists, the petition also said the State Government must focus on minimising mass displacement, instead of carrying on with the acquisition followed by rehabilitation.

The petition included a 11-point rebuttal to the presentation by the Managing Director of the Musi Riverfront Development Corporation, the Chief Minister’s public address on Musi River Rejuvenation Project on March 13, as well as Mr. Revanth Reddy’s statements in the State Assembly on March 23, which they claimed, reduced all riverine issues to ‘rehabilitation’.

The letter was also copied to the Congress party’s central leadership, including Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul Gandhi, Jairam Ramesh and Meenakshi Natarajan, besides the Deputy Chief Minister and the sub-committee’s chairperson Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, and the governing board of the MRDCL.

The signatories, including renowned social activists Medha Patkar and Shabnam Hashmi among others, called upon the Chief Minister and the Cabinet Sub-Committee to ensure a comprehensive review of the project, including a detailed social, ecological, and financial cost-benefit analysis.

The statement strongly supported socio-ecologically sound river-basin planning which safeguards the river’s natural flows, prevents pollution at source, and protects the floodplains, rights and livelihoods of riparian communities, without resorting to commercial riverfront development, concretisation of the river, and large-scale displacement. They expressed solidarity with the ongoing struggle in different bastis and colonies, against the project.