HYDERABAD: One spell of monsoon rain in Hyderabad on Friday brought the city to its knees as several parts of the city including Hitec city and Madhapur were inundated causing untold hardships to citizens as the traffic came to a grinding halt.
The tall claims of monsoon preparedness by the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) that it was well prepared to tackle monsoon lay exposed with one spell of rain.
Due to inadequate stormwater drains and shoddy desilting operations of nalas, even mild showers can cause waterlogging and flooding in the city.
The existing stormwater drainage (SWD) system in the city has been designed for rainfall of 20 mm/hour though the city receives frequent rainfall of 60mm/hr owing to the global warming effect, leaving the drains ineffective leading to flooding of the city.
Every year, GHMC is spending huge amounts on desilting of nalas as well as for remodelling of water stagnation points. However, despite spending huge amounts there is no respite for the denizens because of the shoddy works.
If rain lashes the city continuously for two to three days, normal life would go for a toss. This is due to inadequate stormwater drains in the twin cities. A continuous rainfall of over 50 mm in Greater Hyderabad is enough to flood the stormwater drains that would result in inundation of major arterial roads as there is no passage for rainwater to flow into the drains.
Rs 12,000 crore needed for system overhaul
Funds to the tune of Rs 1,200 crore are required for a complete overhaul of GHMC’s drain and sewerage system.
Nearly 28,000 illegal encroachments have been identified last year along the course of 173 stormwater drains (390 km) for the free flow of rainwater.
For removing huge encroachments (900 acres), widening of nalas, land acquisition and compensation, rehabilitation and resettlement, laying of intercepting sewer lines on both parallel sides to SWD drains and shifting of utilities like poles, pipelines, cables and transformers etc, a whopping Rs 12,000 crore is required.