HYDERABAD: The State government has set up a Strategic Nala Development Programme (SNDP), a dedicated new project wing to plan, develop and maintain a comprehensive storm water drainage and nala system in Greater Hyderabad.
The overall objective of the new programme, which is an exclusive wing within the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC), is to mitigate the adversities on account of heavy rains and urban floods in future.
Retd Chief Engineering to head new wing
According to officials, the project will study the existing nalas and storm water drainage system, and identify critical narrow points, encroachments on nalas, study trunk mains, feeder nalas and other issues and submit reports to take up all works on a mission mode.
State Government has appointed Vasantha, a retired chief engineer of R&B Department, and posted her as OSD for SNDP. The OSD post, which is equivalent to Chief Engineer, will be of one year duration.
The SNDP is created as a special wing in GHMC to exclusively to look after nala, storm water drain issues in coordination with other line departments and will work under the overall control of the GHMC Commissioner. Officials from Irrigation Department and field experts would be inducted based on field requirements.
The SNDP has been established as Hyderabad experienced unprecedented rains last month and the consequent flooding of many low lying areas is attributed, among other things, to narrowing of nalas and storm water drains.