HYDERABAD: Brace up, Cyberabadis. Four major water stagnation points in the area, that were identified following the torrential rains last monsoon season, have not witnessed any significant improvement this year. This means, people are likely to get affected again this year. Flash rains on Thursday night, with 49.5 mm recorded, exposed the delays in some of these works.
The situation at the biodiversity junction, for instance, which was left completely inundated after the October rains last year, has improved only marginally. Officials admit that widening of the drains -- up to 8 metres -- has happened only from the culvert that lies below the Old Mumbai Highway. The water drains upstream are still as narrow as 1 metre.
“The Varakunta nala, which brings excess water from the upstream lake to Khajaguda is presently only 1 metre wide. It needs to be as widened up to 8 metres to avoid inundation. But the works, at the moment, have been affected due to some tender issues,” says GHMC executive engineer Mohan Reddy.
He adds that though a heavy shower, recording around 4 cm of rainfall, can cause problems of inundation, the highway will not be affected because the drains have been widened. However, on the ground, just 49.5 mm rainfall managed to cause water stagnation in front of Care Hospital, forcing Traffic police and GHMC emergency teams to rush in.
The situation is worse in internal roads where the nala widening work have been abandoned over tender issues. Further ahead on the stretch, widened drains did not stop inundation of water at Shilparamam. The 900 metre-wide drains that were laid earlier this year failed the litmus test, but officials insist not much is wrong. “Heavy rain does cause some stagnation, but it all clears out within 15 minutes,” claimed another GHMC executive engineer Sudarshan.
The worst affected here is the Hitec City underpass, that remained flooded for hours after the rains stopped. GHMC officials are now claiming that the Road Under Bridge was only meant for water to pass. “That area is the lowest point in the catchment area and was not supposed to be used as a road. It was supposed to be a passage for excess water to pass. The only solution now is to commission a new underpass,” says GHMC executive engineer for the area Rupa.
There’s flooding, but monsoon still less than normal
Hyderabad: Many parts of the city witnessed rainfall above 30 mm. The highest was recorded at 60mm in Saroornagar, till Friday morning. The showers, that began Thursday evening and lasted till early hours of Friday, made its presence felt across the States. Several districts witnessed light to moderate rainfall.
As per the India Meteorological Department forecast, light to moderate rain will continue to occur at a few places in the State the next five days. On Friday, parts of the city recorded rainfall measuring less than 10 mm. Same was the condition across the state, as the highest rainfall recorded was just 29.8mm at Madnur in Kamareddy district.
About 19 districts in the State, including Hyderabad, continue to have deficit rainfall. As per the data by Telangana State Development Planning Society(TSDPS), from start of the monsoon season on June 1 till Friday, 345.8 mm rainfall has been recorded