Spitfire Akbar: Where is the development?

Chandrayangutta legislator Akbaruddin Owaisi might inspire awe among his constituents with his vitriolic speeches, but behind the curtain of fiery talk lay a constituency brimming with underdevelopment.
Not tough to imagine given that Owaisi junior, while on his campaign trail on Tuesday evening made no effort to enquire with his people what their problems were or how the offi cials were performing in their duties.
He just strode past, while his voters in the Jangamet area of the constituency waved at him, jostled to hold his hand and even climbed rooftops to capture a picture of their leader during his quick one hour padyatra.
There was no time for interaction. “Water is a problem in our area. Often, we have to make several requests and complaints with water board offi cials during summer just to get supplies twice in a week,” rued Mohammed Shakeb, a resident of the Jangamet area. And as the procession passed by his modest home, he further lamented, “Many representations to the political leaders have also been completely useless.”
I n c i d e n -tally, Akbar bhai’s spending records 2010-11 onwards, obtained from the district collectorate under the RTI Act, shows that out of the Rs 3.4 crore works, projects to the tune of only Rs 1.97 crore have been completed. Worse, in last two years of his rule, his expenses on works have been less than 50 percent despite seeking government approval on proposals worth Rs 3.8 crore for four years.
Ironically, as the dust settled the MLA’s company made its way out of the area, the un-lifted garbage and the drainpipes reminding of unfinished works and bad roads in the interiors of the area, were testimonials that development had taken a sidestep for the leader himself.
Pointing to the unfinished Road over bridge near Kandikal gate, a local businessman chuckled: “This flyover here was set for completion last year. Four more pillars have to be laid and that work can easily take another two years.”
A little further down from there is Sikh Chauvani, an area home to about 1,000 Sikh families. Shockingly, development is a word most of the inhabitants here have never heard in their life. “In the last 35 years that I have lived here I have not seen development. The present MLA does not consider as his constituents. We have been approached by his representatives to cast our vote for him this time and we have turned them away,” an irate resident Ram Singh said, when questioned about the fi lth and lack of civic amenities. Other Sikh residents said that on several occasions they had invited Owaisi junior to come to their area for inspection or a cultural event, but each time their requests were turned down.
Similar grouses are raised by residents living in the interiors of Uppuguda like Saibaba Nagar, Rajeevnagar and Lakshmi Nagar. These pockets, though technically within the city, still have mud roads.
“Even the main connecting roads are not properly laid. Bombay colony does not have water or sewerage,” said M Dharma Naik, a resident of Falaknuma. Naik said that ST and SC residents in Ravindra Naik Nagar who are entitled 50 units of electricity every month, are unable to avail of the scheme.
“We have made complaints to electricity officials but nobody even bothers. We have informed our corporator who is a MIM man but to not avail,” he lamented.