Eatala urges Centre to provide funds for Musi rejuvenation

Hyderabad: Malakjgiri MP Eatala Rajender urged the Centre to provide funds for cleaning the Musi River, establishing sewage treatment facilities and providing clean drinking water.

Speaking on the grants to the Ministry of Jal Shakti in the ongoing budget session of the Parliament on Friday, he said that the state governments are struggling to provide adequate infrastructure to meet the growing population with rapid urbanisation. He urged the Centre to recognise this and allocate thousands of cores for sanitation and safe drinking water facilities under the Smart Cities Mission and AMRUT (Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation).

He stressed on the immediate needs of Malkajgiri constituency. Eatala said his constituency has become a major urban centre where people from different cities and states migrate for livelihood. The rapidly growing population has put immense pressure on the existing infrastructure, making it difficult for local authorities to meet the increasing demands. Against this backdrop, he urged the Jal Shakti ministry to allocate special funds for sanitation projects and drinking water facilities. Highlighting the environmental crisis that the city is facing due to the pollution of lakes in Hyderabad with sewage, he said, “The city was once known as the city of lakes. Its water bodies, including Hussain Sagar, have become polluted due to all the sewage discharges. This has led to pollution that has destroyed aquatic ecosystems and killed fish and other biodiversity.” Besides, the contaminated water coming out pollutes groundwater, causing water-borne diseases and air pollution, he added.

Against this backdrop, he urged the ministry to allocate adequate funds for immediate alternatives, like revitalisation of the lakes, diversion of sewage, development of alternative sewage treatment infrastructure, and strengthening of Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs) so that only treated water enters the lakes. There is also a need to divert untreated sewage away from the lakes through modern sewage management systems, he said.

Apart from that, the MP highlighted the seriousness of the pollution crisis affecting the Musi River in Hyderabad due to uncontrolled industrial waste and chemical effluents. He said that once the river was the lifeline of the region. However, “it now poses serious environmental and health hazards due to toxic waste and untreated sewage flows. This has led to severe water pollution in the vicinity of Musi, rendering the river unfit for any use. Groundwater pollution also contaminates drinking water sources. People are falling sick due to toxic air and water-borne diseases.”