Candidates give urban voters a miss in Hyderabad

By M H Ahssan

Netas Feel They Are Non-Voters, Hence Their Problems Do Not Figure In Poll Campaign

When Bill Clinton and George Bush came calling, they were promptly whisked to the swankiest part of the city which was showcased not only as Hyderabad’s pride but even its identity. Pictures of the campuses of software firms here have been used liberally over the last few years by the government to show how hip Hyderabad is. But civic concerns of people working or living in this IT hub have failed to make it to the manifestos of candidates contesting for the newly created Serilingampally assembly seat.

Comprising areas such as Madhapur, Hi-Tec City, Miyapur, Gachibowli and Kondapur, Serilingampally is possibly the most urban constituency in the state. But peep into the campaign plans of candidates, and you realise the urban voter just doesn’t exist for them. With a population of close to 6.5 lakh with roughly 3.81 lakh registered voters, candidates are sure that despite techies and their families forming a huge chunk of the population, they are not potential voters.

They reason that a good part of the urban population living here comprise migrants working in software companies and thus do not form a large vote bank for any party.

So, issues such as those of traffic, bad roads, lack of public transport and irregular water supply that have been grossly neglected by the present government are being ignored by the prospective MLAs as well. Instead, the focus of candidates across parties are the issues of the 72 slums dotting this area — that stretches from Raidurg to BHEL and Jagadgirigutta to Madhapur. “Travelling from Banjara Hills towards Shilparamam during peak hours is a nightmare. We get stuck in the traffic for hours together.

The roads are narrow and the signals are just not manned efficiently,” said P Naresh, a banker living in that area. This apart, the lack of a proper drainage system, especially in Hi-Tec City, has become a major concern not just for residents but also for environmentalists. “Chandrababu Naidu might have developed the area into an IT hub, but he paid no attention to the drainage system. Thus, during rainy season all the dirty water of this area enters the Durgam Cheruvu lake that not only pollutes the water body but also spoils its charm,” said citizen activist Jeevanand Reddy.

The candidates could well be underestimating the urban voter strength. This year, many IT companies have undertaken campaigns to coax employees to get themselves registered which has indeed led to better awareness and more people from this part getting registered.

However, denying the lack of attention paid to urban pockets, candidates say they have been campaigning in every locality and addressing issues concerning all sections of society. “We are not neglecting anyone. We promise to solve traffic and drainage problems here,” said Bhikshapati Yadav, Congress candidate, who earlier served as Serilingampally municipality chairman. However, his campaigns and padayatras so far have only been restricted to the rural pockets of Serilingampally constituency.

The highlight of Prajarajyam Party candidate Bandi Ramesh’s campaign too is about providing cooking material at Rs 100 to all poor families. “We are working towards providing social justice and hence this package,’’ he said. Predictably, urban issues are missing from his campaign plan.

“There isn’t much problem in the urban part,’’ he said, adding, however that a request to extend metro rail up to Patancheru has been made.

The reaction was much the same from the Telugu Desam Party camp, when asked about addressing the qualms of the middle class. “Some law and order problem needs to be looked into in these areas. That’s about it,” said Muvva Satyanarayana, the party candidate, before beginning to list the many problems, from drinking water to drainage, persisting in the slums of Serilingampally that he would want to address.