HYDERABAD: Close to two dozen huts in the 108 Bazar of Secunderabad Cantonment Board’s jurisdiction were damaged due to the sudden thunderstorms on Monday. As a result, residents of these temporary settlements have literally been left without a roof over their head. What is worse is that so far, there has been extension of financial help or any other kind of support from the SCB authorities or local political leaders.
Residents of the damaged huts are angry that during elections leaders from myriad political parties visit them every day, asking for votes. But at a time like this, none of them have even asked for their well-being.
B Sudhakar, a resident of 108 Bazar, said, “My family members are injured. The entire roof over the hut we live in has been damaged due to the thunderstorm. Uprooted trees and electricity poles also collapsed owing to the heavy winds and some of them also fell on other huts in our settlement.”
In the absence of a huge income source, they are now looking toward the state government to help them with the repairs.
Speaking to Express, General Secretary of the Confederation of Cantonment Residents Welfare Association (CCRWA), T Satish Gupta, said, “The residents whose huts were damaged are poor. Some of them are forced to reside on the streets as the condition of their huts has become precarious,” and added, “Despite the disaster, there is no response from neither the local MLA nor the SCB”.
When contacted, Chief Executive Officer of the SCB, S V R Chandra Sekhar said that under the SCB jurisdiction there are no rules to provide compensation to families whose houses get damaged in a thunderstorm.