Rains once again expose poor infra in Hyderabad

HYDERABAD: A spell of 10-centimetre rainfall on Wednesday night yet again exposed the city’s poor infrastructure, with the annual drain desilting and strategic nala development plan (SNDP) works of the GHMC proving ineffective.

While authorities described Wednesday’s rainfall as “bad luck” and admitted they were unprepared for urban flooding, this is not the first time such an incident has taken place. Similar flash floods were witnessed in October 2020 as well.

With the IMD predicting three more days of rainfall, inundation may be the new norm during monsoon hereon. Since Wednesday, key roads in Begumpet, Borabanda, Panjagutta and Kukatpally are severely waterlogged, while cars and autos were also washed away in the two-hour rain spell in Yousufguda and Borabanda.

Residents are also reeling from flooding, with areas like Parsigutta still under the sludge. Even upstream areas of Borabanda and Bachupally were flooded, with authorities blaming encroachments on drains for the same.

According to highly-placed sources, officials had decided to go for an annual desilting in 2020 as pre-monsoon works were proving ineffective. As many as 2.45 lakh cubic metres and 2.23 lakh cubic metres of sludge were removed during the exercise in 2020 and 2021, respectively.

However, this time around, the GHMC failed to finalise tenders for the work, with only 6 of the total 42 being allotted.

Sources said that in many instances, engineers were in cahoots with contractors and deliberately delayed the works.

A senior GHMC official, requesting anonymity, said that contractors and engineers were deliberately shying away from the desilting work, to get specific relaxations in the exercise. Further, bills of `800 crore are yet to be cleared for work already executed.

The official cited above blamed urbanisation and encroachment of drains for flash floods in upstream areas. He blamed the release of water from upstream Gopi Cheruvu for the inundation of Borabanda. The official further said that drain widening work in other affected areas, like Nadeem Colony in Tolichowki and adjacent areas, will be taken up as part of the SNDP Phase-2.