HYDERABAD: The Musi beautification works carried out at a cost Rs 11 crore were washed away in the recent flood caused by heavy rains in the city and on its outskirts. The Musi Riverfront Development Corporation Limited (MRDCL) authorities claimed that the water cut through the soil underneath the pavements at Bapu Ghat, Muslim Jung Bridge, Puranapul, Chaderghat and Nagole.
The corporation had invited tenders for fixing fences at Chaderghat and Moosarambagh bridges which were washed away in 2021.
However, they are yet to fix the fencing. City minister Talasani Srinivas Yadav on Friday said the authorities would start constructing the retaining wall within days to prevent any loss of life.
During 2020, the corporation identified a few patches on the banks of the river, where there were scope for development — 3.5 km from Nagole to Kothapet, 3 km in Uppal Bhagat, 2 km from Chaderghat to Puranapul and about 2 km near Muslim Jung Bridge. The authorities invested Rs 11 crore for the Musi project which was washed away in the recent floods.
According to the MRDCL authorities, engineers, after checking the water spread area and velocity of the flow, constructed pavements, cycling tracks and other infrastructure in such a way that the water flow would not disturb the development. “However, to our surprise, the heavy rainfall during the last week coupled with about 23,000 cusecs of outflow from Himayatsagar and 12,000 cusecs of water from Osmansagar slowly cut the soil beneath pavements and other development at Chaderghat and Bapu Ghat on the banks of the Musi and eventually damaged about 4 kms footpaths, cycling tracks, landscapes and other infrastructure which was developed at the cost of Rs 9 crore bringing the project to square one,” said an official.
However, a top official from MRDCL said it was only a minimal damage and nothing was washed away. He said due the continuous high intensity flow from the upstream Musi cut through the soil beneath the pavements, disturbing the tiles set up on them. He, without disclosing the amount of work damaged, said the MRDCL teams had been working on restoring the damaged portion since last week and would continue until the project was completely restored.
