Release of water from reservoirs puts residents along Musi on alert

Hyderabad: Residents of areas located on the banks of the Musi river were on tenterhooks after six sluice gates of the Osmansagar, up to three feet, and one gate of the Himayatsagar were opened to release surplus water.

An alert was issued to residents on Friday evening after an outflow of 1,248 cusecs of water in the morning increased to 1,788 cusecs by 3 pm at the Osmansagar reservoir. The inflow to the Himayatsagar reservoir was comparatively lower.

“I could see the water level rising by evening and was worried. Right now, the level has dissipated, but we remained alert as authorities already warned us,” said Md. Salauddin, a resident of Chaderghat’s Small Bridge locality. 

Locals said that they remain worried as previously, a bridge at Malakpet was submerged.

“During earlier occasions of flooding, not only this small bridge, but also the bridge connecting Moosarambagh to Amberpet was submerged. This means water crossed danger levels,” said P. Ramulu, a resident of Shankarnagar Colony. 

Authorities, meanwhile, continued to release water from Hussainsagar into the Tank Bund, as the water level crossed the full tank level (FTL) of 513.41 metres. Disaster response teams were also deployed at Balapur, Moosapet, Kavadiguda, LB Nagar, Dilsukhnagar, Saroornagar and other areas downstream of Tank Bund.

Officials of the GHMC and HMWS&SB said they are monitoring the water levels and in case of a sudden spike, residents of low-lying areas will be moved to community halls overnight.