Hyderabad: Many of those living in the Old City say they experienced no water stagnation because of heavy rain, compared to the nightmarish experience that people living in other areas. The only affected places in the Old City were the low-lying areas in the western part of Bilalnagar and Doodhbowli. These problems have been rectified by the concerned authorities, they said.
Major localities enjoyed the benefit of their location:: Falaknuma, Moghalpura, Shalibanda, Charminar, Moghalpura Hussainalam Ethabar Chowk are at a higher level than the rest of the Old City.
“Around 100 years back, the Old City had a population of four lakh. Nizam Mir Osman Ali constructed an 11-km-long and eight-feet- wide nala from Barkas via Falaknuma. This connects hundreds of localities with outlets the Musi,” said Dr Mohammed Ali, who has been running a dental clinic at Charminar for 45 years.
At Doodhbowli and Bilalnagar, after the 2020 floods, the the water and municipal departments up with new stormwater drains, explained 77-year-old Mohammed Waheed from Doodh Bowli, who has been running a shop at Lal Bazaar for six decades.
“Today, Old City’s population is over 60 lakh. The pipeline built by the Nizam has been so robust that there is no complaint of damage except in some localities,” Waheed said.
The Nizam-era engineers did not cut hills at MM Pahadi, Falaknuma Palace, Bibi Ka Chasma and Shalibanda. “Thanks to appropriate planning, the parallel stormwater drains are a blessing,” said Mohammed Khuddus, a resident of Pahadishareef.
“I have been performing puja at Bhagyalakshmi temple, which is attached to Charminar. I have not seen water stagnation at Charminar in over 22 years,” said Sahas Ram, the temple priest.
“After the 2020 floods in Old City we expedited SNDP projects, constructed box drains, and a long SNDP line called ‘Murki Nala’ that starts from Palle Cheruvu in Rajendranagar with an outlet in Malakpet. This prevents water stagnation in the entire south zone”, said Venkanna, Charminar zonal commissioner.
