GHMC ignores water logging

Hyderabad: Out of the list of 51 major water logging points and 166 minor water logging areas handed over to the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation by the traffic police, less than 20 per cent have been attended to. Most of the crucial points like Secretariat and parts of Madhapur remain inundated with each spell of rainfall.

Also, some major water logging points like Maitrivanam, which had led to commuters travelling towards the airport missing their flights last year, continue to remain major water logging points. Some of the critical water logging points continue to have the same problem year after year, due to works being delayed.

The continuous digging up of roads for various works like laying telephone cables, water pipelines, internet cables and underground electric cables continues to damage the road geometry, according to experts.

City planners for the corporation have also pointed out that it is high time for this city to have underground ducts laid which can be used by all departments by paying a charge for it.

GHMC officials say that apart from being an issue of maintenance, it is also the behaviour of the public which leads to water logging, like people throwing garbage leading to clogging of drains and closing of grilled drainage holes in the roads by shopkeepers.

“Under the circumstances, when a contractor or a labourer messes up something and damages the road geometry, they might not tell you upfront and we only come to know when there is a water logging problem. Water logging is mostly due to clogging of drains or blockage somewhere downstream. It is more of a maintenance issue and of public behaviour than of road engineering,” said a senior engineer from GHMC.