GLOBAL SINKHOLE

Hyderabad as a “global city” is no more the buzzword for TRS leaders and ministers. Ever since the TRS came to power, leaders starting from Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao and his ministers, down to GHMC mayor and corporators, used to boast and brag that Hyderabad would soon be made a Global City. Global City was the main plank of the TRS to raise the residents’ spirit and get their votes in the GHMC polls as well. It now is a total washout. The Emperor, it turned out, is without his clothes. The worst flood fury in the city wherein several colonies lay inundated for days, the battered city roads, and the overflowing nalas and manholes exposed the city for what it is: a chaotic mess, despite more than two years of the TRS blah-blah. TRS leaders facing the ire of locals are running for cover. To add to their discomfiture, people in droves are facing television cameras and questioning the TRS leaders about their Global City claims and the promises they made earlier about improving civic amenities; all of which are beamed prominently by the visual media. To add to these, there are also the stories about largescale corruption in the road and drain maintenance works. For a change, there is no blood on the face of the host of city ministers and the city mayor while they pose for TV cameras from flooded streets and even from the safety of their homes and offices. While they make no mention of the Global City offer, the funny political animals that they are, they compensate it with promises that the civic conditions would improve in the coming two years. Really?