HYDERABAD: Now that the water has finally receded, residents of Navayuga Enclave in Badangpet Municipal Corporation are gradually returning to their homes mercilessly battered by the recent floods.
Water gushed into about 300 houses on the ground floor, damaging costly furniture, laptops, television sets, refrigerators, sofas, wooden cots, clothes, educational certificates and other household articles. Each family’s loss is estimated atRs 5 lakh. They now have no option but to throw out or burn all the damaged goods in open spaces.
"The water receded about two days ago. My family and I were staying at my brother’s house. When we returned home today (Monday), we were shocked. To our dismay, we found that everything in the house was damaged," said P Ramkiran, a resident of Navayuga Enclave.
The water level was eight feet at his house until last week. Even as the water is slowly receding slowly into the nearby Meerpet tank, two-feet still remains on roads. "We have incurred losses to the tune of not less than Rs 4 lakh. Apart from the Rs 10,000 given to us by the State government as flood relief, we have not received any help," he said.
He urged the government to lay proper storm water drains with large pipelines to carry loads during heavy rains.
Jayamma, a resident of the same colony, who had been staying in a rented house until recently, was weeping inconsolably when Express visited her home. "My entire house is destroyed. My family and I have been cleaning the house for the past two days. There is so much more to do. I don’t know when everything will become normal again," she said.
She wanted the State government to provide relief up to Rs 1 lakh. "My son lost his educational certificates in the rains. How will he get new ones now?" she asked.
Another resident G Narasamma said that their car, scooter and borewell pump motors were damaged in the floods. "We began cleaning the house four days ago. It will take us another three days to make the house livable again," she said.
She said workers were taking advantage of the situation and charging heavily for simple tasks. "To clean the polluted sump, the workers charged me Rs 6,000. Just for throwing out damaged articles, they are asking for Rs 10,000," she said.