Data shared at the press meet showed that in the last 12 financial years, ₹4,404 crore was allocated for Musi development, but only ₹37 crore was spent under the head, which is less than 1%. | Photo credit: SIDDHANT THAKUR
There has been a wide gap since 2014 between the allocation of funds and expenditure for the development of the Musi river by the two governments of Telangana.
The details were shared at a media conference of Urban Development Forum and Hyderabad Citizens’ Forum, organs of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), Telangana on Tuesday.
Data shared at the press meet showed that in the last 12 financial years, ₹4,404 crore was allocated for Musi development, but only ₹37 crore was spent under the head, which is less than 1%.
The figures were shared in the context of detailed project plans released by MRDCL at a recent program attended by Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy and a counter presentation by Bharat Rashtra Samithi working president KT Rama Rao on plans and developments during their regime.
According to the details, during the first three years, the BRS scheme did not allocate any funds to the project. Over the next two years, funding of ₹377.35 million per year was budgeted, but expenditure was limited to ₹3.12 million.
In 2019-20, the allocation was ₹48.95 crore but the expenditure was nil. While no allocation was made in the following year, ₹200 million was earmarked for each of the following three years. The 2021–22 expenditure form was zero, while ₹4.94 billion was spent in 2022–23 and ₹11.15 billion in 2023–24.
Since the Congress government came to power, the allocation in both budgets has increased to ₹1,500 crore, but the amount spent has remained woefully small – ₹11.55 crore for 2024-25 and ₹6.21 crore for 2025-26 (so far).
For the past 12 years, nothing has been done to clean up the Musi River, but the publicity has gone overboard, as a note posted on forums has found fault with the acquisition of more than 10,000 properties in the river bed and buffer zones without any mention of restoration plans in the detailed plan.
Even the plan under the BRS government envisaged removing 8,594 houses instead of allocating two-room houses to the displaced, the note pointed out. Although Mr. Rama Rao now claims that the then Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao did not agree to the displacement, such a statement was never made when the party was in power, it said.
A request was made for consultation with the residents of Musi and for the plan to be modified accordingly.
Published – 17 March 2026 20:39 IST
