SNDP works incomplete, flood threat persists in Hyderabad
HYDERABAD: Though the South West monsoon has set in over the city, the works on the Strategic Nala Development Programme (SNDP) taken up by the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) are yet to be completed. The GHMC authorities have been claiming that the works under SNDP have been completed but the ground reality is entirely different. Recently, Minister for Municipal Administration and Urban Development (MAUD) KT Rama Rao, who held a review meeting on monsoon preparedness with officials from various wings of MAUD in Hyderabad, sought to know from the officials the status of SNDP.
The officials said that a majority of the works were completed and several colonies would not face floods this year. However, the claims made by the GHMC are far from being true.
Of the total 57 works, stretching 66.02 km, both GHMC and peripheral municipal corporations and municipalities, 31 works on nalas, measuring 32.23 km, have been completed and the remaining 26 are under construction, meaning around 60 per cent of works have been completed as per the last week’s status report. Of the 36 SNDP works in GHMC, around 24 works are said to have been completed and the remaining 12 including six critical ones are under progress and one could not be taken up due to a court case.
Outside the GHMC limits - peripheral Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) - of the 21 SNDP works, only seven have been completed and 12 are in progress and two could not be taken up due to court cases. Due to the delay in the execution of the works, citizens have to brace for inundation as already a few spells of downpours have exposed the chinks in the infrastructure.
In the first phase of SNDP, for the improvement of stormwater drainage system in Hyderabad Urban Agglomeration (HUA), 57 (36+21 works) works covering 66 km in length have been taken up at an estimated cost of `985.45 crore in various areas where flooding was reported in 2020 due to heavy rains and the residents suffered losses.
GHMC officials said that in the Secunderabad zone of the eight works, three are under construction. Similarly, in Kukatpally, three projects are in progress, with one nearing completion. Moving to L B Nagar zone, nine works are underway, out of which three are in the final stages. In Charminar zone, seven projects are being executed, with one nearing completion. In Khairatabad zone, out of the seven works, three are under construction, while one is pending due to a court case.