HYDERABAD: In a bizarre turn of events, GHMC officials on Friday night demolished a recently constructed central median under Hyderabad Metro Rail viaduct at Moosapet metro rail station. The reason: it was blocking the free flow of storm water into drains, adding to the flooding of roads there.Engineering experts say, the central medians are an added feature to the metro rail project and is being constructed without much thought about its impact. The water logging caused by the medians, wash away the top layer of bitumen road leading to formation of potholes. “The problem though temporary will remain until a proper storm water drain system work is completed by HMRL,” said P Surya Prakash, mentor at Smart Infrastructure Engineering Services Trust.
HMR indirectly thus is leading to the bad state of roads in the city, although along the metro rail corridor. The responsibility for road maintenance along the metro rail corridor rests with the HMRL at the moment. Each time it rains in Hyderabad, the metro viaducts produce ‘waterfalls’. Engineering experts on road design say, the lack of a working storm water drain pipes in the HMR is one of the core reason behind Hyderabad’s bad roads.
The SWD pipes are meant to take excess rain water and pass it down drainages. This would prevent the ‘waterfall’ from the metro viaducts. HMRL officials say the storm water pipes already exists under the viaducts and have been plugged to prevent the drains from getting clogged with construction debris. The officials assure that stretches where the metro rail construction is over, the problem is absent.
However, GHMC officials contest this claim. “The water, falls from the the metro rail viaducts on the roads and damage them. For areas where HMRL has handed over the roads the road maintain responsibility then becomes that of GHMC. We have informed and requested HMRL to take necessary action multiple times, but elicited no response,” says Mohammand Ziauddin, chief engineer, GHMC.