From boardroom to dirty lanes: Journey of techie who left cushy job to contest GHMC polls

Hyderabad: From the serene campus of BITS Pilani to the rugged world of politics, Velaga Srinivas has come a long way to serve the people in Hydernagar.

A graduate from BITS Pilani, Velaga Srinivas quit his job at Oracle to contest the GHMC polls in a bid to transform Hydernagar into a model ward.

Heading the 'Forum to Improve Things, he has set out on a new journey at a time when youth want to avoid dirtying their hands in the murky world of politics.

"It began in 2007 when I returned to India to be part of the development movement. Later I Joined Loksatta. As a part of Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan's Kukatpally development team, I worked on several civic issues in and around Hydernagar," he said.

Later, they joined hands with different resident welfare associations in the Hydernagar division to fight corruption in water supply distribution.Five years later in 2012, the residents founded Nizampet Road Federation, a conglomerate of 150 Hydernagar resident welfare associations.

Under pressure by the Federation, a new main road was constructed to the chagrin of local MLA and Corporator. "I later became part of SOUL (Save our Urban Lakes) and worked on improving Pragathi Nagar and Kindi Kunta Cheruvu," he said. A year later in 2013, Srinivas headed the Loksatta Serilingampally constituency as its president. The responsibility was in addition to his corporate job. Four years later, Srinivas quit IT job and founded 'Forum to Improve Things (FIT)'.

"We were instrumental in providing stops for 5 trains at Lingampally. We were also instrumental in starting 3 long-distance trains from Lingampally. We also succeeded in providing a 'One Card' for all modes of Public transport within 500 m of walking distance and last-mile connectivity" he said.

For others who don't know the young aspirant, he was the one who filed a PIL to save Lakes of Hydernagar and got a favorable order from the High Court to remove encroachments along the Lakes."I managed to save the 600 square yards of government land from encroachment. I fought to construct a community hall," he said.

Living at Nizampet Road of Hydernagar division of Serilingampally constituency, his dream is to invite Prime Minister Narendra Modi to his division.

"I am fighting against fraud in allocating roads, street lights contracts, and corruption in civic projects. We need a voice in the GHMC council who will expose the misdeeds. My goal is to protect water bodies from encroachment," he said.