Hyderabad: Lives will change for many living on the banks of the Musi River in Moosarambagh for decades. Among them are the camel herders of Moosarambagh, for whom the river and its surroundings have not only been a source of livelihood, but also a way of life.
There migrants who came from as far as Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan to make a livelihood in the city of pearls, and they stake the kids on joy camel rides at various places in the city.
There are tens of camels of all ages, which have made this bank of the river their home, eating castor leaves and drinking from the river.
The camel herders are among the tens of thousands of people who could be displaced due to the Musi rejuvenation and beautification project being initiated by the State government, with the Hyderabad Disaster Response Assets Monitoring and Protection Agency (HYDRA) being the agency executing the project.
There are eight families of camel herders living in Moosarambagh, on the land owned by the endowments department. They are not paying any rent, but have been bearing the electricity and other costs.
They dispatch their camels to various places, and also on orders.
On Thursday morning, revenue officials, along with police personnel visited that area and marked their houses (sheds), informed them that they will soon have to leave the premises.
“We are ready to relocate if we are provided 2bhk houses. We can find an alternative location for the camels, or will have to send them back to our native places. If we first have a permanent shelter to live, then we can think about the livelihood issue,” Praveen Situle, native of Gadwani in Madhya Pradesh told Siasat.com.
It can also be mentioned that whenever there is heavy flow in the Musi River, and whenever there are alerts issued for temporary evacuation, the camels are temporarily shifted to other safer places and then brought back as the water-level resides.
There are also those rearing their cattle by the banks of the Musi River. Among them is Raju, a person belonging to the Yadava community in Moosarambagh. he has been rearing four cattle by the river, and also constructed a house there.
“Where are we supposed to go if we are relocated from here? We can’t put our cattle inside a 2bhk house. If they are giving us a house it is fine, but our livelihood is dependent on cattle,” Raju tells Siasat.com.
The residents on the banks of the Musi are on high alert, as the revenue officials have been swiftly moving forward with the State government’s plans.
“Our children go to government schools, but we couldn’t send them to school today. What if we are evicted overnight,” asks one of the camel herders.
It can also be recalled that on the same banks, the previous BRS government had forcefully evicted around 300 families from Teegala Basthi in 2023. After protests and social activist Medha Patkar had visited the families, the BRS government had allotted 2bhk families to those families.
There are many like the camel herders and cattle rearers, who own small businesses and have settled down on the banks of the river. For many of them, the blanket application of the 2bhk house formula may not be a profitable proposition, those being affected by the evacuation believe.
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