Sanjeevaiah park debate hots up

The battle between the Municipal Corporation of Hyderabad (MCH) and the Hyderabad Urban Development Authority (HUDA) on handing the popular Sanjeevaiah Park over to HUDA has heated up.

Its chairperson Lakshmi Parthasarathy has reacted sharply, writing to the state government that the park should either stay with the MCH or come to it, and that there should be no time limit on the handover.

According to the Hyderabad Municipal Corporation act of 1955, the civic body cannot hand over or give on lease its properties to any institution for more than a year.

Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu wants the park to be given to HUDA, which is expected to develop it into a tourist spot and subsequently hand it over to the Buddha Purnima project nearby.

Naidu has said all projects on the periphery of the Hussain Sagar lake closeby, including the Lumbini park, the new privately owned Imax theatre, NTR Gardens, a boating facility and the new Necklace road should be brought under one agency – the Buddha Purnima project.

Though the MCH is willing to hand over the park to HUDA for as long as it wants – because Naidu desires that– the elected body within the corporation headed by the Majlis-Ittehadul-Muslimeen-Congress opposes handing over MCH properties to any other institution.

The standing committee member from the MIM, Sunnam Raj Mohan, accused Naidu of milking the corporation to feed white elephants like the HMWS&SB (the sewerage and water board) and HUDA, pointing out Naidu asked the MCH to give Rs350 million aid to HMWS&SB in December, 2002 for the Krishna water project (to bring Krishna river water to Hyderabad.)