As Telangana Assembly elections 2023 just days away, #Khabarlive is bringing you ground reports from key constituencies. This series brings you voices from the ground, the mood of the voters, and issues that matter — as well as those that don’t.
Many voters in Siddipet constituency praised sitting MLA T Harish Rao’s initiatives and believed that opposition fielding a candidate is merely a formality in Telangana Assembly Elections slated on November 30.
Siddipet constituency, located in the Medak district of Telangana, is a tale of two cities when it comes to development. While the town of Siddipet itself has undergone rapid development in recent years, with new roads, buildings, and infrastructure, the surrounding villages and rural areas have been largely neglected.
This developmental imbalance is evident in a number of areas, including:
- Agriculture: Siddipet is a predominantly agricultural district, but the government has not done enough to support farmers. Irrigation facilities are inadequate, and farmers often struggle to get access to credit and inputs. As a result, many farmers are forced to sell their land and migrate to cities in search of better opportunities.
- Education: The quality of education in rural Siddipet is poor. Schools are often understaffed and lack basic facilities. As a result, many children drop out of school at a young age.
- Healthcare: The healthcare system in rural Siddipet is also inadequate. Primary health centers are often short on staff and medicines. As a result, people have to travel long distances to get medical care.
- Infrastructure: Roads in rural Siddipet are in poor condition, and many villages do not have access to electricity and drinking water.
This developmental imbalance has led to a number of problems, including:
- Rural-urban migration: Many people from rural Siddipet are migrating to cities in search of better opportunities. This is leading to a decline in the population of rural areas and a shortage of farm labor.
- Increased poverty: The lack of development in rural Siddipet has led to increased poverty and unemployment.
- Social unrest: The developmental imbalance has also led to social unrest among the people of rural Siddipet. There have been a number of protests and demonstrations in recent years demanding more development for rural areas.
The Telangana government has acknowledged the developmental imbalance in Siddipet constituency and has promised to take steps to address it. However, so far, very little has been done. The people of rural Siddipet are still waiting for the government to deliver on its promises.
In addition to the above, here are some specific examples of the developmental imbalance in Siddipet constituency:
- In the town of Siddipet, there are a number of new roads, buildings, and infrastructure projects. However, in the surrounding villages, the roads are in poor condition and many villages do not have access to electricity and drinking water.
- The government has built a new medical college in Siddipet town. However, the primary health centers in rural Siddipet are often short on staff and medicines.
- The government has also built a new airport in Siddipet. However, the airport is primarily used for private flights and is not accessible to the common people.
The developmental imbalance in Siddipet constituency is a reflection of the larger problem of regional inequality in Telangana. The state government has focused its development efforts on a few urban areas, while neglecting rural areas. This has led to a growing gap between the rich and the poor, and between urban and rural areas.
On the other side, the hint of winter is already felt in Siddipet mornings. A nip in the air and swanky buildings silhouetted against the misty sky even after daybreak proclaim the impending season.
At first glance, the sprawling urban hub presents a picture of prosperity, a reflection of wealth in every nook and corner.
Smooth roads leading to the city dotted with modern buildings that house showrooms of global brands, an integrated vegetable and meat market (Rythu Bazaar), supermarkets, a grand government hospital, integrated office complexes, and a mini stadium-cum-sports complex — signs of youthful vibrance are all around Siddipet.
“Except for an airport, Siddipet has everything today, and the credit goes to Harish Rao,” BRS president and Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao lauded his Cabinet colleague and nephew at a rally in Medak earlier last month.
Harish Rao, who holds the important finance and health portfolios, represents the Siddipet Assembly constituency falling under the Medak Lok Sabha segment.
“The per capita income has increased in Siddipet from ₹8,000 to ₹9,000 in 2014 to nearly ₹14,000 in 10 years. Infrastructure, agriculture, service sector, and irrigation projects have also been upgraded. Roads are world-class. For medical needs, two hospitals with all modern facilities have been built,” the chief minister listed the achievements.
Outside Paradise Hotel near the district court, retired teacher G Sathaiah looked bored. The excitement being built up around, did not affect him.
Two faces of reality
A cup of tea from Paradise has now become a routine for the former teacher. Besides the hot tea that he enjoys, the brief visit also gives him a slice of hardcore reality, often in dark contrast to the salubrious surroundings.
The reality is as hard as the callouses on the palms of a group of labourers huddled together and engaged in an animated discussion at the Gandhi Chowrastha — or crossroads — where the hotel is located.
Sathaiah took a sip and nodded towards the workers. “Don’t judge a book by its cover,” the man has seen and experienced the city over the past 65 years suggested. With just a nod, the retired teacher illustrated the contrast.
The labourers are at a crossroads in life with no work for days. The chief minister’s words on Siddipet’s per capita income and the ₹63 crore Information Technology tower inaugurated in June this year or the 1,000-bed government general hospital and a medical college, or the hanging bridge on Komati Cheruvu mean nothing to them. They need work and income.
“I come here every day around 8 am and wait till 1 pm. But I got work for only one day and then nothing for the next five days. It is becoming difficult to even pay the fees of our kids and buy vegetables,” V Kankova of Eradepalle village in Bhoompally Mandal told #Khabarlive.
The labourers felt that migrant workers from Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, and Odisha were taking away their jobs.
“They settle for wages as low as ₹300,” mason P Raju from the Ensanpalle village on the outskirts of the town did not hide his annoyance. On a work usual day, he earns ₹700 while women get ₹600.
While most of the workers are from the villages on the town’s outskirts, S Laxman travels 35 km to reach the labour adda (spot). “I shell out ₹150 daily for the round trip from my village in Gajwel and have been returning empty-handed for the fifth day today.” he groaned.
Meanwhile, when Kankova was asked whether she had received a saree from the government as part of Bathukamma, the nine-day grand festival of Telangana, she shrugged the question off with a laugh. The saree was of least concern to her.
“It has been three years since I received it. Before that when the saree came, it was of cheap quality and not polyester,” Kankova picked up her plastic-woven bag that held her lunch. She has decided to return home after the wait for a job seemed futile.
Demand for university
Siddipet boasts of over three dozen government and private educational institutions. Started in 1956, the Government Degree and PG College (Autonomous) is considered one of the most prestigious educational institutions in the district.
It is affiliated with Osmania University and has seen several student union leaders making it big in politics. The names include K Chnadrashekhder Rao, BJP’s Dubbaka MLA Raghunandhan Rao, and Medak MP Kotha Prabhakar Reddy, who has been announced as the BRS candidate against Raghunandhan Rao in the upcoming Assembly elections.
Gopala Sudarshanam, an assistant professor in the college, however, opined that the district needs a university.
“In this college, there are over 5,000 students in 20 undergraduate and 10 post-graduate courses. The number of students is rapidly increasing in the college every year. More infrastructure is required to accommodate them,” he said.
“Siddipet shares its borders with eight other districts. Some of them have universities but the student strength is less compared to this college. Faculty members are also more in number here than other districts that have universities,” the energetic professor teaching Business and Commerce, added.
SV Srikanth (26), who completed his LLB from the college, said a majority of the students are from the Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST) and Backward Class (BC) communities.
“In general students from every community have to travel either to Hyderabad or other districts for higher education. However students from these communities are relatively poor. They face financial crunch heat more than others,” he said.
Landowners turn farm workers
Ranganayaka Sagar is at a 25-minute drive from the autonomous college. Farmers from nearby villages such as Chandlapur, Peddakodur, and Lingareddy pally (all under Chinnakodur mandal) depend on the reservoir for irrigation purposes.
At Chandlapur, 60-year-old G Chandrava is clad in an oversized, full-sleeved shirt, a towel draped over her head to escape the midday sun, as she harvested maize along with other women from the field.
The reservoir has not benefitted her three-acre farmland. “Our village doesn’t get water from the reservoir as promised. It goes only to Peddakodur. If we do not get adequate water, the land will gradually become arid due to the high humidity,” she claimed
Her son, D Kanhaiah (36), also a farmer, wanted the government to construct a canal to his village as they did in Peddakodur.
A few metres away, Chandrava’s friends K Pushpa, G Padma and B Madhavi (all from Peddakodur) have finished harvesting. They now work on Chandrava’s land after their lands has been acquired for the reservoir.
“I had four acres where we used to grow paddy. I got a compensation of ₹6.5 lakh a acre but people tell me that market value at that time was ₹20 lakh. KCR says he is giving Rythu Bandhu but what is its use after our lands had been acquired,” Madhavi is disgruntled.
Padma, while heading to the nearby makeshift hut with her group for lunch, claimed that the government promised flats under the two-BHK housing scheme and jobs to people whose lands were required. Nothing has materialised.
“We used to earn more on our lands but now we get ₹250 per day. But our situation is such that we have become landless farm labourers now,” Padma said.
Around 15 km away in Ensanpalle village, R Kistaih was having tea. His 1.5 acre was acquired by the state government around five years ago for building the medical college.
“I was not keen on giving up my land, especially when the government was paying only half the market price. The market value was ₹12-13 lakh for an acre but I was given ₹6 lakh,” Kistaih told South First.
He then ordered another cup of tea as if to ruminate on his loss. Siddipet’s development has affected the farmers.
Increase of ₹20 in 9 years
S Padma (36) has been rolling beedis for over two decades now. She earns ₹200 for every 1,000 beedis she sells at a nearby factory.
“I used to get ₹180 during the previous Congress government. During the past nine years, only ₹20 has been increased,” she said. “Expenses have increased,” Padma said.
The woman wanted a decent increase of ₹300 — an amount much less than the pocket money a teenager with access to the swanky showrooms would have.
Padma’s neighbour V Lakshmi (50), a former beedi worker, wants an identity card for her daughter-in-law Manisha. “She would be eligible to draw ₹2,000 amount from the Aasara pension scheme once she gets the ID card. Everybody else in the village is getting it.”
However, Lakshmi is worried that the process might take another six months, and the family would be denied the ₹24,000 pension.
Both Padma and Lakshmi also sought regular medical camps for the beedi workers, mostly women. “There are around 1,500 beedi workers here. Many of us face breathing, throat, and back issues,” Padma said.
Meanwhile, P Yadaiah (55) of Ensanpalle is miffed over implementing the housing scheme. “The INDIRAMMA (Integrated Novel Development In Rural Areas and Model Municipal Areas) was better than this housing scheme. It was delivered on time,” he opined.
Caste equations
Siddipet Assembly constituency comprises five mandals — Urban, Rural, Chinnakodur, Nangunoor, and Narayanraopet.
The Election Commission said the Siddipet constituency has 2,28,523 voters — 1,15,520 women followed by 1,12,934 men and 69 voters from third gender.
“Over 60 percent population in the Siddipet Assembly Constituency comprises Backward Classes (BC). Mudiraja community has the most numbers of voters followed by Munnuru-Kapu and Gouds.
It is followed by SC and ST communities, who form about 30 percent of Siddipet’s population. The composition of SC includes Mala, Madiga, Beda Budaga Jangam and others while the ST community includes Lambada, Erukala and other tribal communities.
The remaining 10 percent comprises forward castes such as Velama, Reddy and other castes, and Muslims and Christians as well.
In the 2018 Assembly elections, T Harish Rao registered an impressive victory with a margin of 78.59 percent vote share — the highest by any candidate — over his rival Bhavani Marikanti of Telangana Jana Samithi (TJS).
The BRS leader, who comes from the Velama community, has won three bypolls, too, since 2004, when the seat was vacated by erstwhile MLA KCR for the Medak Parliamentary seat.
“He knows poll management well. There is no strong opposition for him,” IT employee Anil Reddy explained. He wants Rao to ensure that more people from Siddipet are employed at the IT tower.
Kistaiah of Ensanpalle predicted that Rao will comfortably win the 30 November election. The Congress has fielded the TPCC general secretary and its Youth Wing national secretary Poojala Prasanna against Rao.
Many felt that Rao’s win was a forgone conclusion. “The Congress candidate is hardly seen here while Harish Rao frequently attends some or the other event,” Kistaiah added.
College professor Sudarshanam, a leader from the Velama community, said development activities undertaken will ensure Rao’s victory.
Retired teacher Sathaiah said the town has transformed remarkably. “A human development approach should be government’s priority,” he opined.
He then turned philosophcal and gave a crisp description of Siddipet. “From the outside, it looks a beautiful and tasty medipandu (raspberry) but inside it has insects,” he said.
The Telangana government needs to take immediate steps to address the developmental imbalance in Siddipet constituency and other rural areas of the state. This will require investing in agriculture, education, healthcare, and infrastructure in rural areas. It will also require creating jobs and opportunities in rural areas to reduce rural-urban migration. ■ #hydnews #khabarlive #hydkhabar
