Rains, flood, overflowing nala: Trimulgherry residents living in misery

Hyderabad: Heavy rains, flooded Trimulgherry lake, and an overflowing nala have made life miserable for people living Indian Airlines Colony, Padmanabha Colony, Malani Enclave Colony and Surya Avenue. To make matters worse, a retired mandal revenue officer (MRO) has put a concrete slab over a nala adjacent to his house just to park his cars. The slab has been obstructing free flow of water in the nala, which has made matters worse as this time the rains have been unprecedented in around a century.

The resident welfare associations have complained to both the Secunderabad Cantonment Board and the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation. But nothing has happened.

Whenever a rain starts, fear literally engulfs Dr Jayashree, a resident of Indian Airlines Colony since past 27 years. Her house had got flooded last year too. But the October rains have been virtually hell. “There is more than four feet of water in my house. We have shifted to the first floor, but we have lost lakhs due to flooding of our ground floor,” she says.

A B-school professor, Dr Jayashree points to the nala whose free flow has been obstructed because of the concrete slab. “Whenever there is heavy rain, the nala overflows and water stagnates in the colony. This year, the area is flooded because of the heavy rains,” she points out.

Residents of colonies in the area say Trimulgherry Lake is highly neglected. Though the lake is spread over eight acres, authorities have not bothered about it. People have been dumping garbage in it. Anti-social elements also gather around the lake, complains, P. Bala Showry, secretary of Malani Enclave Residents’ Association, where more than 50 families live.

Indian Airlines Colony Residents’ Welfare Association president Kylasa Balaraju, says, “Since the area falls under the Cantonment Board, we have brought our precarious situation to the attention of the board. We have also informed the GHMC about it. Balaraju points out that a resident of Surya Avenue, B. Krupakar, a retired MRO, is the one who has constructed the concrete slab over the nala to park his cars. “That slab is obstructing the free flow of the water, due to which the area has got flooded,” Balaraju underlined.