Kismatpur residents resist land acquisition for Musi riverfront project
HYDERABAD: Around 150 families in Kismatpur village, Gandipet mandal, have threatened to launch protests against land acquisition for the proposed Gandhi Sarovar project under the Musi Riverfront Development initiative.
Their move follows protests by 425 families of Madhu Park Ridge (MPR) in Bandlaguda Jagir, who have already opposed displacement linked to the project.
The Rajendranagar revenue authorities have issued a notification stating that 19.10 acres will be acquired in Kismatpur for the project. The notice said Kismatpur village and the nearby Dargah Khaliz Khan area at HMBS Colony would be affected.
Landowners said the parcels were once fertile and used for paddy cultivation. However, cultivation stopped about a decade ago due to scanty rainfall, and the land has remained vacant since then.
Aslam Bin Abdullah, a landowner in Kismatpur, said he would lose nearly 10 acres in the Dargah Khaliz Khan area.
“Unless the state government pays the market rate per acre of ₹10 crore, we will not accept. The affected families will knock on the doors of courts if needed,” he said.
He added, “Losing my ancestors’ property for the project causes unbearable pain for us. We have been protecting it over the past five decades, and it feeds our entire family.”
Another landowner said nearly 150 families who depend on small land parcels would be impacted.
“We are a very poor family and have been protecting this land parcel over the past several years from encroachers. Now, the Revanth Reddy government is forcibly taking it for the project, which is unacceptable,” he said.
A resident of Kismatpur, A Santosh Goud, questioned the land acquisition process.
“The government had to seek owners’ consent before initiating land acquisition. Information about the buffer zone has to be communicated with affected owners,” he said.
He added, “The then BRS government did not propose any project which affected hundreds of families, but the Congress government is forcibly acquiring the land. We can’t understand why the government is playing dramas in the name of a buffer zone in acquiring crores of rupees worth of land.”
A couple of weeks ago, Kismatpur landowners and residents resisted revenue officials when they attempted to conduct a Grama Sabha on land acquisition. Since then, revenue authorities have not returned to the village.
