Hyderabad: Irrespective of the attempts being made by Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy and his cabinet colleagues to feign ignorance over the estimated cost of the Musi riverfront project, evidence continues to surface exposing the reality behind their claims.
During the inauguration of Gopanpally flyover in July, the Chief Minister had categorically announced that Rs.1.5 lakh crore would be spent on Musi Riverfront development project over the next five years. This was after the project estimated cost escalated from the initial Rs.50,000 crore to Rs.70,000 crore and finally to Rs.1.5 lakh crore. However, despite videos of the Chief Minister making the project cost announcements going viral on different social media, he continued to deny the figure and at a press conference last week, the Chief Minister went onto say that he had no idea as to who told the opposition parties that Rs.1.5 lakh crore will be spent on Musi rejuvenation project.
In tune with the Chief Minister, his cabinet colleagues also acted ignorant about the figure of Rs.1.5 lakh crore. On October 1 during a press meet, IT Minister D Sridhar Babu alleged that BRS was running a Goebbels’ campaign on the Musi project cost. He even said the State government was inviting consultants on what works should be executed as part of the project, which was complicated and accused the BRS of complicating the issues further.
However, now a report released by the Chief Minister himself, during the AI Summit in September, has once again exposed the claims of the Congress leaders. The Telangana’s Growth Story report, along with an AI generated image of the Musi Riverfront post redevelopment, clearly mentions that the Chief Minister has announced the allocation of Rs.1.5 lakh crore over the next five years for the redevelopment of Musi riverfront. “This transformational project aims to enable businesses to operate round the clock and encompasses IT towers, retail, entertainment spaces and multiple bridges across the river drawing inspiration from the River Thames in London,” the report says.
Sharing the image of the same, Nayini Anurag Reddy, an entrepreneur on X said: “CM Revanth Reddy recently questioned that who said the cost of Musi beautification is Rs.1.5 lakh crore? Below is an excerpt from the book Telangana’s Growth Story, launched by the Chief Minister himself and officially available on the Telangana government’s website…”
“It clearly states that the Chief Minister announced an allocation of Rs.1.5 lakh crore over the next five years for the redevelopment of the Musi riverfront. I am sure, they will remove the PDF from the website soon, but this clearly reveals the story of MUSI LOOTIFICATION” he added.