A bend in the river Premium

The plan to reimagine and revitalise the Musi in Hyderabad and transform the surrounding areas with improved connectivity, recreational and economic spaces appears on stream. But there are challenges ahead.

On a morning with speckled cloud covering the sky like a veil, the sun peeks through the rocks and shrubs of the Deccan, creating a glorious sight over the Musi River at Manchirevula on the outskirts of Hyderabad. The pristine water flowing out of the Osmansagar Dam gurgles and sloshes over the rocks as a lone angler tries his luck. Then people start arriving on their two-wheelers and cars to stop by and throw waste into the water.

“These are flowers and twigs. It is not waste. It will not spoil the water,” assures one of the gentlemen, who has come from Narsingi on the outskirts of Hyderabad, as he throws a plastic packet filled with flowers, leaves and branches. The location is the first causeway built on the river next to an abandoned stone bridge that got washed away. This is near the location of one of the 14 bridges planned to be built on the Musi to improve connectivity and change the face of Hyderabad.

Days after taking over the reins of the Telangana government, Chief Minister A.Revanth Reddy asked for “plans to construct bridges, commercial shopping complexes, amusement parks, hawker zones, and path-ways along the Musi River in a public-private partnership (PPP) mode.”

This dovetails with the plan of the earlier government to build 14 bridges. There was also a skyway plan that envisaged road connectivity on the river. The length of the river from Manchirevula to Nagole (on the eastern part of Hyderabad) is approximately 41 km. The skyway on the river from Outer Ring Road (ORR) east to ORR west would have a built-up area of 1,26,07,61 square metres — equivalent to about 20 Uppal cricket stadiums.

Pillar peril

According to the competition document for design of the bridges, the planned bridges will have a length of 200 metres and a width of up to 25 metres with a central median, carriageway, footpath and a cycling track. The Moosarambagh bridge will have four pillars, while the Attapur one will have five, Ibrahimbagh three and Chaderghat six, according to sources in the civic body.

The recent Delhi flood in the Yamuna river was partially blamed on the number of bridges that India’s capital city has. More the number of bridges, more the pillars.