HYDRAA victims pour out anguish, accuse Congress govt of cruelty and bias

In a charged gathering at Telangana Bhavan, victims of the HYDRAA demolitions shared emotional accounts of displacement and alleged discrimination by the Congress-led government. BRS leader KT Rama Rao condemned the demolitions and pledged to fight for justice in courts and on the streets.

Hyderabad: Tears, anger and despair filled Telangana Bhavan on Sunday as victims of the HYDRAA demolitions narrated their suffering before BRS working president KT Rama Rao during a presentation and photo exhibition exposing what the party called HYDRAA anarchy.

Families displaced by the agency’s actions accused the Revanth Reddy government of cruelty, discrimination and double standards.

The victims recounted harrowing stories of homes razed without notice, shops torn down in the dead of night, and families left destitute despite possessing valid documents and stay orders from the courts. Balamma from Gajularamaram compared the humiliation faced by women to Draupadi’s disrobing in the Mahabharata.

“HYDRAA dragged us out, tore our dignity apart and flattened our homes. My husband has lost both legs. How do we live now?” she wept.

From Kondapur to Gajularamaram, victims recounted how bulldozers crushed not just their homes but their livelihoods. Moin, a tea stall owner, said officials gave him not even 10 minutes before demolishing his stall, pushing his family into debt.

Pochamma and Lingamma, who had lived in Kondapur for 40 years, said the land was allotted during Indira Gandhi’s era. “When Revanth Reddy was MP, he told us to build huts. Now as CM, he demolished them,” they said, now surviving by begging at temples.

The woes of victims reflected a pattern of unchecked official excess.

“HYDRAA ignored High Court and Supreme Court orders. They spared the Chief Minister’s brother Tirupati Reddy’s house but demolished ours despite the stay orders issued by the High Court for both of us on the same day,” alleged Madhusudan Kumar, whose Piano School was razed, after forcing children out and without allowing them to shift furniture and other equipment from the building.

“They even threw out sick children from a nearby hospital before demolishing it at midnight,” he added.

Durgamma from Galipochamma Basthi in Gajularamaram said her orphanage, built with 13 years of savings from working in Dubai, was bulldozed despite a court stay.

“They dragged children out including some special and differently abled children before flattening everything. They spared just one room for children and warned us to raze it down as well, if we spoke about it anywhere,” she cried.

The victims charged that while the Congress government promised “Indiramma Rajyam”, it delivered injustice.

“During KCR’s rule, we lived with dignity. Under the Revanth Reddy regime, we are homeless,” they said.

Assuring the families of justice, Rama Rao condemned the inhuman demolitions and vowed that BRS would fight for every displaced family in the court, the Assembly and the streets of Telangana.

“The government that spares its own while demolishing the poor’s shelters has lost its moral right to rule,” he declared.