Hyderabad in dire need of stormwater network

Hyderabad: The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation officials claimed that the civic body could only participate in the rescue operations but could not prevent the city from road damages and inundation. Officials said that the city stormwater network could only support 2 cm in one hour and anything above that would put the city out of gear. The stormwater network will pass beneath the existing roads, which can be completed in three years. 

A senior GHMC official on condition of anonymity said that there had to be a comprehensive plan to prevent the city from frequent road damages and flooding. He said the existing stormwater network could only bear 2 cms rain but recently,  the average rainfall recorded was more than 5 cms. 

“The city needs to have stormwater network which can take at least 20 cms rainfall and it’s a now or never thing. It has to be constructed with Rs 20,000 crore like a major irrigation project.

The stormwater network should pass beneath the city roads. The project has to be taken up with immediate effect and completed in less than three years in different phases to prevent urban flooding and road damages,” the official said. He said until then, the corporation had no option but to clear water logging and fix the damaged roads.