HYDERABAD: The first monsoon downpour itself exposed the under-preparedness of Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) as the southern parts of the city which received around 11-55 mm of rainfall in a short span of 1-2 hours early on Wednesday morning, were crippled with waterlogging.
The worst affected areas were Chandrayanguta, Falaknuma and Attapur which had been marooned similarly during the October 2020 floods. The routine waterlogging point at Attapur Pillar 191, Falaknuma Bridge and other areas despite years of complaints, continued to be waterlogged leading to traffic snarls as the early morning peak hours coincided with the rains.
In places like Macca Colony and Kala pathar where box type drains have replaced open naalas, the water took hours to percolate.
Meanwhile, an RTI petition filed by activist SQ Masood to GHMC has found that of the 36 projects undertaken under the Strategic Nala Development Plan (SNDP) in LB Nagar, Khairatabad, Secunderabad zones of GHMC, none are currently completed. These 36 projects are worth 550 crores as per the RTI reply.
In fact, 5 of these 36 works have not even started as per the RTI reply. This includes Mansoorabad cheruvu to Bandlaguda cheruvu Nala, Komti Kunta to Meerpet talab, Nadeem Colony to Shah Hatim, remodeling of bridge at Picket Nala and improvements to Kalasiguda nala. It may be recalled that Nadeem Colony was one of the worst affected localities near Tolichowki which could be accessed only by boats. However, two major works here have not even commenced.
Infact, even as the RTI sought a detailed list of low-lying areas affected during 2020 October floods, the SNDP officials responded that they did not have details of the same.
“There is nothing strategic about the SNDP wing because when we asked about the various low-lying points, the studies undertaken to fix it, the consultation done with other line departments had no answers for the same. This SNDP wing is nothing but old work being undertaken under a new name as they continue to build retaining walls and covers over naalas,” alleged SQ Masood, RTI activist.
