HYDERABAD: With heavy rains lashing the city in the recent past, residents of Padma Colony in Nallakunta are getting increasingly worried over the possibility of the next spells of rains inundating their houses and damaging their properties.
The recent unseasonal rains have already led to tonnes of silt and garbage accumulating on the locality roads while several residents also complain that their bikes and cars and now filled with mud, making them difficult to be repaired. They blame the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) for the slow pace of Nala works going on in the colony. A few families have moved to other areas in the city fearing that further rains will cause additional problems.
Though the works started more than two years ago, not even 50 per cent of the works have been completed to date, they alleged, adding that the frequent breaching of the temporary retaining wall is one of the root causes for their miseries. Residents also claim that the corporator concerned and ruling BRS leaders have no time or interest to visit the locality and take measures to solve the issue.
A trip to the locality shows the ‘blackened’ surroundings and murky roads, which make it difficult for vehicles to pass and people to walk on. Additionally, a number of compound walls have also collapsed
It has become almost regular for residents to lose thousands to lakhs of rupees due to damage to household appliances and furniture during the rains. The owner of Lakshmi Sweets said he lost `5 lakh worth of sweets he had prepared for a wedding.
“My two-wheeler, fridge and other articles were damaged and cannot be utilised,” another resident Arun Kumar said.
‘Temporary retaining wall collapses every year’
A resident, Dattatreya Sharma, said the temporary retaining wall is getting damaged during the rains resulting in stormwater gushing back into the colony. In the last two years, three temporary retaining walls were constructed, but they got damaged whenever there were heavy rains, he added.
Speaking to TNIE, Raghavulu, who works as a security guard in the locality, said, “We are facing this problem for the last few years due to the temporary retaining wall construction by the GHMC. Whenever there are heavy rains, the wall collapses and the backwater gushes into the colony and submerges houses. We have been requesting the civic body to construct a permanent retaining wall with pillars.”
Residents mentioned that the stormwater comes from Warasiguda through Secunderabad, Ram Nagar and Nagamaiahkunta before entering the Hussainsagar surplus nala near Fever Hospital in Nallakunta.
Officials cite RWA pressure
"The nala works taken up under the Strategic Nala Development Programme (SNDP) are progressing slowly. It is one of the primary causes of all our problems. The contractors are not showing interest in completing the works as per timelines. We have made several requests to GHMC officials and Musheerabad MLA Mutha Gopal, but there is no improvement,” another resident JD Sharma said.
GHMC officials told TNIE that the problem was occurring due to a change in the alignment of nala in SNDP as demanded by many residential welfare associations (RWAs).
Earlier, the proposal was to take nala construction from the front side of the colony but due to pressures from RWAs, the alignment changed to the backside joining Hussain Sagar surplus nala, they added.