Greater Hyderabad municipal corporation ill-prepared to face monsoon

HYDERABAD: Given the state of preparedness of the civic authorities, Greater Hyderabad residents should pray that they are not subjected to a heavy spell of monsoon rain. This is because the GHMC has been caught napping --- the desiltation of the nalas is still half done and the disaster management cell of the civic body does not have either the manpower or the wherewithal to handle water logging and the other woes that hit the city with the first spell of the seasonal rain.

Last Monday was an indicator of this. The city experienced 4 cms of rainfall, and there were long traffic chaos at all the arterial roads. "Thanks to the desilting of nalas remaining undone, indiscriminate road cutting and battered roads all over, there will be major traffic chaos, water-logging and unprecedented flooding of the roads and the low-lying areas when a heavy and long spell of rain occurs," said a civic official. Road cutting has been going on at many major roads in the city despite a ban on works during monsoon as the GHMC stops giving permission to various agencies for such work in May itself. However, traffic chaos prevailed on the Sardar Patel road where the CPDCL dug up the road for laying a 220 KV line. The busy stretch continues to be a mess as the completed portion of the road has not been re-carpeted yet. Similarly, road cutting is going on at Road No 3 Banjara Hills, resulting in traffic chaos during the peak hours.

According to sources, the desiltation of the nalas should have been completed by May 31 itself. However, only 80% or about 550 kms of the 700 km desiltation work was completed by the time monsoon rain hit the city. This would mean that several areas are in for major flooding when a torrential downpour occurs.

On paper, the GHMC's disaster management cell has five zonal control rooms and one central emergency control room mandated to operate round the clock. "The emergency wings personnel also have material like pumps to bail out the water from stagnation points, tree cutters, nylon ropes, torch lights and trucks. But this is hardly enough to cater to 60-lakh population," said sources.

GHMC officials said the only way flooding and water logging can be prevented is when the nalas are remodeled and other works like the routing of the lakes are taken up. "But all that would require funds to the tune of Rs 20,000 crore, an amount that the GHMC is in no position to cough up. Hence, Hyderabad residents should be prepared for water logging and traffic snarls during the monsoon," said an official.