The drone flies in slowly over the blue Hussainsagar in Hyderabad. The domes of the alabaster white Telangana Secretariat come into the frame. The drone circles and shows the magnificent building that has become the talk of the town since its inauguration in April this year, built at a cost of ₹616 crore.
This is a video made by the State government in English, and has been posted across multiple handles. The voice over calls it a “jewel in the crown of Telangana”, also saying that the State is “striving for the upliftment of the people and the welfare of the downtrodden”.
Below the building, on the road that runs parallel to the railway track is the Pattigadda slum in the Sanathnagar Assembly Constituency. “We will vote depending on the mood that day. We no longer have trust in the government and don’t expect anything. We may get or may not get the two-BHK [bedroom-hall-kitchen] houses,” says Raju, a driver who lives in the shanty.
The street ends in a school which promises: Free uniforms, free textbooks, free mid-day meals, and free computer training. Children scamper about the lane filled with trash, goats, chickens, and buffaloes. “We don’t expect any change or benefit from our representatives. There has been no development here for the past 30 years. The roads are the same. They get flooded whenever there is rain. The trash is not picked up regularly. The people living in the slums have not been allocated new houses. If they can stop drunkards coming here to drink that would be great,” says Murthy who sells finger-foods outside a liquor outlet.
The predominant mood in Hyderabad city is low expectations from public representatives. As the stage set for the high-stakes Assembly election with 119 seats, the campaign and narrative are increasingly focussed on individuals and political parties, with the main contenders being the ruling Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), the Congress, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), and All India Majlis Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM). Many of the city’s key issues are being pushed aside.
City problems
Hyderabad boasts much development. The city has constructed roads over graveyards, bridges over temples and chillas (roadside prayer structures), and roads through hillocks. It even boasts of a hanging bridge over a lake (Durgam Cheruvu) and is in the process of building 14 bridges over the Musi river that flows through the city. Yet, for the average Hyderabadi, the roads continue to remain congested, making commuting a daily ordeal.
Like many cities across India, Hyderabad has many pressing problems: traffic congestion, poor pavement and road maintenance, a problematic waste disposal system, subpar government schools, the lack of safe public parks, have remained out of the poll picture.
These issues do not feature in conversations with voters, and social media platforms are awash with a focus on the cult of personality and ‘screenshots’ of development.
An Instagram reel posted by the ruling BRS party about D. Sudheer Reddy, its candidate for L.B. Nagar, the commercial and residential hub of Hyderabad, highlights the transformation that has taken place in the area since the formation of Telangana in 2014. Shanties have been replaced by the government’s 2BHK ‘Dignity Housing’ blocks, while traffic-choked roads have given way to multi-level flyovers and metro rail network, the video shows.
Of the ₹6,224-crore budget of Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation for 2023-24, nearly ₹775 crore is earmarked for the Strategic Road Development Project, ₹510 crore for Strategic Nala Development Programme, and ₹150 crore for Comprehensive Road Maintenance Programme.
“We are building a new road from Bapughat to Moosarambagh that will ease traffic flow through the city. Currently, there is too much vehicular congestion, making it difficult for people to commute,” says AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi, while talking about the elusive development in Hyderabad’s Old City, on the ‘other side’ of the Musi river.
Exuding confidence that his party’s nine contenders from Hyderabad will be home and dry, Owaisi highlights various developmental initiatives that the AIMIM has undertaken, including the restoration of the Qutb Shahi Tombs, the redevelopment of Mahbub Chowk Market, and the restoration of Mir Alam Mandi, among other projects. Currently his party has seven seats.
The reason for Owaisi’s confidence can be seen in the southern part of Hyderabad. Working outside his welding and fabrication workshop in Chandulal Baradari downwind of a slaughterhouse, is Faheem Khan, who is distracted by a vehicle carting waste from slaughterhouses. “Don’t worry, that smell will vanish in a bit,” he says about the putrid odour that can make anyone reach for a barf bag.
“Whenever we have an issue, Owaisi saab is there to stand by us. I wish he does something similar to what is happening in Delhi,” says Khan, referring to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s “commitment” and “good work” in improving the quality of government schools as well as healthcare, courtesy mohalla (community) clinics.
“All the money I earn goes towards the private school education of my three children and to meet medical needs,” says the resident of Rajendranagar Assembly constituency who pays ₹1,500 school fee for each of his two sons, 16 and 14 years, and ₹350 for his nine-year-old daughter.
Low expectations
Many citizens have grown sceptical about the ability of politicians to bring about a meaningful change in their lives, and approach elections with a resigned pragmatism, choosing the proverbial “lesser of two evils” rather than holding out hope for transformative policies.
“We now have a drinking water connection near our home,” says Burgu Srinivas, beaming. He lives in the street wedged between the Nampally Exhibition Ground and the nala that carries sewage from Nampally to the Musi river. When it rains the street gets flooded. Their toilet is a makeshift-contraption on the nala. “This is not just home, it is our business place and our workshop. We cannot live and make a living anywhere else,” he adds. The street with about 400 inhabitants is like a village in the midst of the millennial city, content in the lack of expectation from its elected representatives.
Education gets short shrift
Shyamlal, 40, sees off his 11-year-old daughter outside the Kulsumpura Primary School in Hyderabad, and watches her enter the campus with a spring in her step. The class VI student heads to the newly-built dining area of the school, which falls under the Karwan Assembly constituency, for breakfast consisting of bagara (spiced) rice and a watery curry. Shyamlal, who works as an electrician-for-hire, says his daughter likes the breakfast, “But my decision will not be affected by it,” he says.
The school is part of a pilot project — Chief Minister’s Breakfast Scheme — initiated by the Telangana government where the morning meal is served to students at 7.45 a.m. before classes begin. It was launched on October 6 at select schools just five days before the election schedule was announced and was supposed to be rolled out in all the 27,000-odd government schools after Dasara, but remains limited to the initial number.
Niveditha, an English teacher at the school, says the scheme has helped improve attendance. “On days we have khichdi, food gets wasted as only 200 students eat. When there is poori or idli, we have 400 students having breakfast,” she says. The school, which caters to the lower-middle income group, has 900 students on its rolls.
At another government school located in Hyderabad’s Rambagh area, the breakfast scheme is yet to be introduced. “We hope to be covered after the elections,” says a teacher here.
For the 2023-24 financial year, Telangana has allocated only 7.6% of its budgeted expenditure for education. This falls significantly short of the average education budget allocation of 15.2% in other States. However, this is a slight improvement compared to the sector’s share of the total budget in 2022-23, which was 6.26%.
This underinvestment in education has persisted for the past several years. In 2016-17, Telangana spent just 8.2% of its budget on education, the lowest among its neighbouring States, with Andhra Pradesh allocating 15.1% and Maharashtra 18%.
Akunuri Murali, a former IAS officer associated with the civil society group Social Democratic Forum, says, “The spike in spending on education is linked to increase in the salary of teachers and not to any push to improve schools or the infrastructure. Much of the infrastructural change in some schools happens through donations, MLA funds, and Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan [a Central government programme].”
“Elections are far removed from issues and agenda, and turned into personality battles. Whoever lies better will win. The competition is about lying and making their promises sound believable,” he asserts.
Style over substance
In August this year, a square acre of land in Rajendranagar on the outskirts of Hyderabad commanded a staggering price of ₹100 crore per acre, setting a new record for land prices in the State. The steep cost of land has resulted in Hyderabad’s expansion shifting from a horizontal sprawl to vertical growth.
Public spaces have undergone a transformation, with functional buildings adorned in vibrant hues and illuminated by twinkling LED lights at night. For visitors or social media users who witness drone visuals, it is a breath-taking sight.
A world away from this vertical growth is Sainikpuri on the fringes of Secunderabad Cantonment. For Krishnaveni, who works as a house-help in Sainikpuri, the choice of vote is dictated by two factors: what she has got so far, and what she hopes to get.
“Now, we at least have a proper roof. We have free drinking water at home. But there are other struggles. My grandchildren study in private schools. Shelling out money on private school fees for people who earn less than ₹2 lakh a year is not easy,” says Krishnaveni, whose home falls under the Malkajgiri Assembly constituency.
“My daughter has two girls. The annual fee in a private school including uniforms is ₹40,000. Healthcare is also not cheap. But what choice do we have? Government hospitals have poor facilities and private hospitals are very expensive,” she adds.
Telangana has implemented a raft of programmes aimed at improving healthcare, including Basti Dawakhanas in urban areas, Palle Dawakhanas in rural parts, Telangana Diagnostic Services offering free tests, Telangana Dialysis scheme for kidney patients, the KCR Nutrition kit for pregnant women and another kit for new mothers, and ambulances for pregnant women. However, in terms of budget allocation, Telangana dedicates only 5% of its budget to healthcare, compared to an average of 6.3% allocated by India’s other States.
The Pattigadda settlement in Begumpet began as Nandamuri Basava Tarakam Pattigadda. “My father was promised a good house during the NT Rama Rao’s first term. It is nearly 40 years. We got concrete roads, some have built their own houses, but our lot has not changed. Can we really trust politicians after all these years?” is the rhetorical question of Murthy when asked about his political choice.
