HYDERABAD: Monsoon, no doubt, brings cheers to the rural folk as well as urbanites. But it also brings along a bagful of problems, especially to city dwellers, in the form of waterlogged roads and flooded areas.
Though it is an annual phenomenon in the twin cities, this year the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC), in order to tackle the problems, has devised a new strategy, the Monsoon Management Protocol, wherein the Corporation’s senior officers are drafted in as Monsoon Monitoring Officers and entrusted with the task of monitoring the situation, supervising the response activities, and resolving issues at the locations allotted to them.
These Monsoon Monitoring Officers, who are asked to follow the ‘protocol’ strictly for effective utilisation of resources and providing quick response, are required to regularly visit major, chronic, critical waterlogging points in the areas allotted to them and ensure that debris, plastic and other waste material is cleared from catch pits.
The digital elevation maps (DEMs), provided to Deputy Commissioners and Executive Engineers, will be updated as and when required with all relevant information, including major waterlogging points, inundation areas, manholes, drainage network and static pump location.
The updated information will include colour coding like major waterlogging point (red), catchpit/manhole (brown), static pump location (orange), drainage network (black), inundation areas (blue), mobile MRT location (pink) and rehabilitation centres (green).
The responsibilities of these officers also include being alert and vigilant in monitoring weather updates and respond at any time to calls, SMS and WhatsApp messages from the central control room and emergency operation centre.
They are also required to ensure that the monsoon response or disaster response force (DRF) teams are stationed at identified major inundation and water stagnation locations.
They are also required to coordinate with the teams of various departments, including HMWSSB and HMRL, HRDCL and police department, for clearing the logged water and facilitating easy flow of vehicular traffic.
The officers are also required to identify open places for construction of percolation tanks.