The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) has commissioned a safety audit on its stormwater drains, with emphasis on the open drains, in preparation for the monsoons. About a year ago, a 10-year old girl got washed away in a stormwater drain at Kalasiguda in Secunderabad after slipping through the gap in the concrete slab covering the nala. In September last year, another four-year-old walked into an open manhole in Pragathi Nagar during heavy rains, and got swept away. His body was found in a lake nearby. Within a few weeks, another woman residing by a stormwater drain in Chilkalguda fell into it and died.
The safety audit is expected to help the civic body prevent similar incidents. Zone-wise tenders have been called for inviting agencies to submit their bids for the consultancy services for conduct of nala safety audit of the existing stormwater drains in the city. The third party agency needs to conduct the audit by designating teams to have a walk-through of the entire length of all nalas and drains in the zone and to ascertain safety of the existing drain network with an aim to reduce the adverse effects on people and property. Duration of the study is 90 days, ending with report submission.
The city has a stormwater drain length of 1,300 kilometres, 390 kilometres of this is covered by open drains.
