[ad_1]
Madhapur
Issue: As heavy rains lashed the city in October last year, scary visuals of flooding surfaced from Hyderabad’s Madhapur area, which houses IT and pharma companies, in addition to gated communities.
Resident’s cry: From the past two-three years, the road adjacent to Nectar Gardens gets inundated every time it rains. Several cars were submerged in October when the city experienced rains like never. I hope the government will do something about the roads in Hyderabad
—T Akhilesh | a resident of madhapur
Expert solution: In 2016, the Telangana Assembly Estimate Committee found that nearly 60 acres near Durgam Cheruvu has been encroached. There are also several recent encroachments not just in the lake FTL area but also the Shaikpet nala which is under dispute from a very long time. These issues have to be resolved by removing encroachments and ensuring that proper engineering is done to restore the inlet and outlet channels —Jeevan Kumar | a civil engineer
……………………………….
Bowenpally
Issue: Many areas surrounding the Ramannakunta lake at Bowenpally in Secunderabad Cantonment reported heavy water logging in July this year. There are as many as 20 residential colonies facing flood threat as water level in the lake rises dangerously with every spell of rain.
Resident’s cry: Our troubles have been continuing for nearly three decades now. We don’t know when they would be permanently resolved. Earlier, it was just the roads that used to get inundated. Now, the water gushes into our houses, further adding to our miseries. The problem is only worsening with every passing year
—Geeta Kumari | a resident of sitarampur in bowenpally
Expert solution: The Rammanakunta lake, Hasmathpet lake and RK Puram lake are all interconnected. There is flooding in the surrounding areas because the inlet and outlet nalas have been encroached. The authorities should ensure that the encroachments on nalas are removed and the network of nalas must be restored
—Thakur Rajkumar Singh | environmental activist
………………………………………
Tolichowki
Issue: Tolichowki’s Nadeem colony and Baba Nagar bore the brunt of all the major extreme rainfall events in the last two decades. The area suffers massive flooding. Many lanes in these colonies turned into rivulets as two-wheelers, cars and in some cases even people were seen floating.
Resident’s cry: In October last year, the rains increased water level in the inlet nalas and Shah Hatim Talab (lake) as the entire water from the upstream flowed down. Our houses got inundated as the water level gradually rose till the ceiling, almost 10-12 feet high, causing massive destruction. Even now, due to the rains in the last few days, the drains in the area are once again overflowing — Mohammad Hameed, a resident of Nadeem Colony.
Expert solution: The GHMC has recently carried out de-silting and cleared the choked outlet channels by setting up a temporary bund with sandbags, which is a short-term solution to the problem. The only permanent solution is to remove encroachments in the lake and on channels and activate the defunct culvert that was built a few years ago — P Ramakrishna, a civil engineer
Saroornagar
Issue: Several families experienced a repeat of last year’s monsoon nightmare as areas around Saroornagar lake — among the worst-affected by rain-induced floods last year — were inundated once again this year. Kondaram Nagar and Seesala Basthi were among the worst affected as surplus water from the lake exceeded the capacity of the drains meant to carry it to Musi river.
Resident’s cry: There are as many as 1,800 to 2,000 families that suffer inundation every time it rains in this area. Most of the drains are clogged and obstruct free flow of excess water from the lake and upstream areas — Kota Sai Kumar, member of a resident welfare association in P&T Colony
Expert solution: Flooding in the areas around Saroornagar lake is mainly due to surplus water from surrounding areas such as Meerpet, Kapula Cheruvu, BN Reddy Nagar and Balapur being diverted to the residential colonies in low-lying areas. The storm water drain carries water from Meerpet, Bandlaguda and surrounding areas up to a spot in Karmanghat and leaves it there causing flash floods. To arrest the flooding in this area, we need to construct a drain pipeline under the strategic nala development programme of the GHMC. Plans are afoot for the project and once it concludes, water from upstream areas will follow its natural course to Musi without causing any floods — H Krishnaiah, GHMC LB Nagar zone deputy commissioner
GFX
Issue VS solution
· The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) has identified 28,872 encroachments on major nalas flowing through 390 km length in its limits
· Of the 28,000 unauthorized constructions identified last year, the civic body concluded that 1,001 structures in 47 critical bottlenecks are to be removed immediately to avoid inundation during heavy rains. But till July this year, there has been no major drive or attempt to remove the encroachments except taking up the removal of bottlenecks at some isolated places
· Initiating steps to prevent flooding of low-lying areas, the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) has decided to acquire 260 properties by paying compensation of over Rs 80 crore towards development of storm water drains across the city
· In an effort to fix the city’s drainage system, GHMC’s nala development wing’s strategic nala development programme (SNDP) was rolled out in November, 2020 post the floods that wreaked havoc in the city
· Though 260 properties with a combined extent of 23,000 square yards have been listed for acquisition through the legal route, GHMC is making efforts to acquire properties through negotiations wherever possible under the GHMC Act
QUOTES
Under phase 1 plan, 15 packages have been sanctioned under strategic nala development programme (SNDP) for Rs 858 crore. It covers 78 kms sewerage length. While some packages are currently under procurement stage, removal of encroachments is being monitored by zonal commissioners. After land acquisition, the nala widening or reconstruction works will take off after October — C Vasantha, SNDP chief engineer
The lakes and nalas in the city were primarily built for agrarian purposes. But now that these lakes have turned into public spots for entertainment and rejuvenation purposes, engineering for these lakes also needs to be modified accordingly. If you want to prevent floods, you have to deal with the whole system as one integrated area — Anant Maringanti, urban planner and executive director of Hyderabad Urban Labs
FacebookTwitterLinkedinEMail
[ad_2]
Source link