The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) has blamed the Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (HMWS&SB) for the poor condition of roads in the twin cities.
Nearly 80 percent of the roads that were battered is due to constant sewage overflows, pipeline leakages and water stagnation in the twin cities. Remaining damages were due to incessant rains during the season.
As Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy sought a comprehensive road action plan and reasons for road damages in a week’s time, the GHMC will submit a detailed report to the Chief Minister by giving ample proof along with photographs that roads are getting damaged due to constant sewage overflows and pipeline leakages. “The GHMC is in the process of preparing the report for submitting the same to the chief minister”, GHMC officials told Express.
GHMC officials said that the Chief Minister pointed out that road conditions are far better in Delhi as compared to Hyderabad because Delhi has an adequate sewerage and pipeline network. In Hyderabad, though the population has increased by leaps and bounds, no steps were taken to provide adequate infrastructure. Some 30 years ago the population of the twin cities was about 25 to 30 lakhs, and now the population has reached up to 80 lakh.
The sewerage lines that were laid 30 years ago continue to bear the tremendous burden even today for the 80 lakh inhabitants. The city is growing vertically through large scale high rise buildings in every nook and corner. The sewage pipeline is not being able to withstand the heavy burden resulting in overflowing of sewerage on to the roads which in turn result in road damage.
Many of the storm water drains meant to discharge rain water have turned into sewerage drains as people are disposing sewage directly into the SW drains.
“In the last three decades, the Board did not upgrade the infrastructure due to lack of funds. Whatever little infrastructure was added was due to the release of funds from the corporation”, said GHMC officials.
On the other hand, HMWS&SB officials find fault with the design of the roads itself. “The roads are laid in such a way that there is no way the water can drain out fast. The Hyderabad Metro Rail is also digging up main thoroughfares these days and taking its own time in restoring them. The corporation also delayed in restoring roads dug up by the HMWS&SB or the APCPDCL for power lines. There seems to be lack of commitment, lack of supervision and improper planning for the present conditions. Therefore it is wrong to find fault with the Water Board alone”, they said.
“As the Chief Minister wanted to prioritise the roads as per traffic requirements and population, the GHMC is preparing an action plan to lay all weather-proof roads using the best materials and maintaining them in near future”, they added.
The extent of the road length damaged has been identified as 61.13 km at 2,739 locations in the GHMC area. Out of the 6,780 kms of road network in GHMC area, about 300 kms belong to R&B and NH departments which are main corridors. The remaining 6,480 Kms are under GHMC limits.