HYDERABAD: After only two days of monsoon’s arrival unleashed a havoc on the city roads, the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) has decided to construct percolation tanks and box drain culverts to drain excess rainwater at locations with critical waterlogging. For this purpose, the civic body has identified 197 major inundation points in the city, of which 36 were solved permanently and 40 are being tackled, leaving nearly 120 critical waterlogging points across the city.
Addressing the media persons here on Monday, the GHMC commissioner, M Dana Kishore said that the percolation tanks and culverts will come up on open land plots owned either by the State government or the GHMC, near these critical bottleneck points. These pits will serve a two-fold purpose. Not only will they drain excess water from main roads and keep them free, they will also act like rainwater harvesting pits and help improve the groundwater levels, the commissioner explained.
The construction of percolation have already begun in Serilingampally zone, covering parts of the IT corridor and open places near Nectar Garden, Shilparaman, Madhapur, Biodiversity, he informed, along with a box drain culvert at Adarshnagar in LB Nagar.
Keeping a check
Dana Kishore further added that unauthorised dumping of C&D waste in SWD drains and open nalas was the root cause for overflowing of rainwater on to roads, leading to traffic chaos in Hitec City and Madhapur areas.
As a result, monsoon teams have been told to inspect the SWD drains for the presence of C&D waste and initiate immediate action, at 160 critical points.
A C&D waste vehicle has also been allotted to each of 150 divisions in GHMC for lifting the debris material under a special drive.
U-turns on Madhapur road to remain blocked
Post the heavy rains in the past few days, Cyberabad Traffic police have identified and blocked eight bylanes near Madhapur police station where vehicles are known to make sharp U-turns. Police said the commuters would often take the wrong route to beat water inundation through these U-turns, often at the cost of other commuters. The blocks will remain till traffic is streamlined