Hyderabad: Wider nalas a pipe dream

Hyderabad: Removing encroachments on nalas and widening them requires strong political commitment. Though every political party in the city has declared at some time that it must be done, no party will say so when it is in power. The current government has rubbished the Kirloskar Committee report which was approved by the high-level committee constituted by the state government and experts from IITs. 

There is no dearth of reports that have recommended removing encroachments on nalas. Apart from the Kirloskar Committee report, there is the City Development Plan prepared by the erstwhile Municipal Corporation of Hyderabad, Voyants Consultancy’s detailed project report on remodelling and widening of nalas in the GHMC area, and umpteen other studies and surveys that are gathering dust in the government offices. 

In the meantime, the encroachments on nalas have multiplied manifold. Four years ago 28,000 encroachments were identified on the city’s nalas. Today that number is 30,000.  

The Kirloskar Committee report said that the storm water drains constructed during the Nizam era were for a population of five lakh and a municipal area of 54 sq km. The GHMC today covers 625 sq km with a population of almost 1.2 crore. Most new settlements and colonies outside the core area of Hyderabad (the old municipal corporation area) and on the peripheries are examples of unplanned urban growth and unregulated planning.

In July last year, the GHMC decided to clear 47 critical bottlenecks, estimated to cost '230 crore. Some 800 structures were identified for demolition. But the project has been proceeding at a snail’s pace. Every year, during the monsoon season, parts of the city get flooded because of encroachments on the nalas which decreases the ability of these drainage channels to carry off the extra water. Yet, neither the government nor the opposition parties take any notice. 

Dr B.V. Subba Rao has done an extensive study on urban flooding and nala widening. He recalls that municipal administration and urban development minister K.T. Rama Rao had called the recommendations of the Kirloskar Committee ‘impractical,’ but there are several ways to minimise inundation in the city if one really wants to do so. He said that structures obstructing the free flow of water in nalas should be fined. The government should bring an ordinance prior to the monsoon season and demolish such structures or collect the cost of repairing the damaged roads and inundation of homes from the encroacher.  
“Without strong political will the nala widening problems will persist." He said there are experts outside of government who could come up with solutions to the problem if the government was serious about taking any action. 

CPM city secretary M Srinivas said that the government regularises the land through various schemes and then visits the colonies when they are inundated. He says the new TDR (transfer of development rights) policy has made things even more complicated. 

"Encroachers have been waiting for an increase in the TDR. Is the government encouraging more encroachments? It should come out with a policy that satisfies at least the poor," he said.

Bidders shy away from nala works
The work of widening nalas and demolishing encroachments has been painfully slow and there are not many takers for the job either. 

Forty-seven nala bottlenecks were to be removed and tenders for this invited in July last year. 

But tenders for only 23 have been finalised so far. There was not a single bidder for the others, though the process of inviting tenders was repeated five times. Of the 800 encroachments on these 47 nalas, the corporation has managed to clear only 200 in a year.

A senior GHMC official said that even in the 23 locations for which tenders have been finalised, the town planning ground level staff and local political leaders have not been co-operating. In fact they have been ignoring the instructions of municipal administration and urban development minister K. T. Rama Rao. 

He said that the private agencies finalised for nala widening works have been sitting idle for several days due to the public revolt reportedly provoked by local leaders. He also alleged that town-planning and revenue department officials do not have official records of these nalas. 

Ground level staff is hand-in- glove with the owners of the encroached properties who are giving misleading information about the parameters of the nalas. This has led to many public spats. 

The civic body has estimated that it will cost '230 crore for demolishing the encroachments and paying compensation to those whose dwellings have been demolished.