The Strategic Nala Development Programme (SNDP) works, wherever they have been completed within the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) limits, have helped prevent flooding to a large extent, as seen from the ground.
The SNDP was taken up as a firefighting measure post the devastating floods of October 2020 and involved securing the neglected and encroached stormwater drains wherever possible, and providing alternative solutions where widening was not a solution.
Though the current spate of rains has manifested in another nightmare of flooding and traffic jams, residents from areas where SNDP works are completed are thankful that they are not part of it. “Since the pipelines were laid transferring the flows to the Bandlaguda Lake, we are able to sleep peacefully without fear of inundation. Earlier, there would be this constant fear that the supplies would perish if the shop got flooded,” said P.Chandrashekhar, a grocery store owner in Mansurabad.
Earlier, the Mansurabad Lake would receive flood water from a large catchment of Vanasthalipuram, Chintalkunta and other areas, and insufficiency of surplus channels would inundate the surrounding colonies when there were heavy rains. Besides, the narrow box drain constructed earlier, was unable to carry the flows to the lake, which resulted in flooding of Chintalkunta road.
Before SNDP works began, another box drain was constructed alongside the older one, connecting to Mansurabad Lake. This posed another challenge, in flooding of Ayyappa Colony, which was settled right in the FTL of Bandlaguda Lake downstream of Mansurabad Lake.
As part of SNDP, surplus channels between Mansurabad Lake and Bandlaguda Lake, and from there up to Nagole Lake were fortified and box drains were provided wherever necessary. This has resolved the major problem of inundation in several areas.
“Many residents here had lost many valuables and shifted to neighbouring locality when their houses were flooded in 2021. Some even sold off their houses at cheap prices. Thankfully, the problem is resolved now,” said Harikrishna, another resident of Ayyappa Colony.
As per the engineering officials from GHMC who carried out this humongous task within a short time, another part of the work, to lay a second drain from Nagole Lake to Musi River is in progress. Once finished, colonies in Nagole too would be saved from inundation.
Of the 37 works taken up by GHMC under SNDP, a total 24 works have been completed so far, including the well known Appa Cheruvu, Picket nala, and Fox Sagar Lake.
There are also areas which have not received complete relief from flooding, such as colonies downstream of Saroornagar lake. Under SNDP, a box drain was constructed from the lake up to Chaitanyapuri culvert, and the culvert was cleared of encroachments to aid free flow. Besides, part of the inflows into the lake were diverted and taken to Musi River directly, officials informed.
Nevertheless, the colonies downstream of Saroornagar lake experienced inundation in the current spate of heavy rains, when sluices of the lake were lifted to let out excess water.
Officials say that construction of another sluice below FTL is in progress, in order to empty part of the lake ahead of the rains, which will address the flooding issue completely.
