Deccan Chronicle       01.06.2010

Hyderabad, May 31: Despite the fact that Rs 260 crore was sanctioned under the JNNURM scheme to the GHMC to remodel and widen storm water drains, the work has not been done. As a result, citizens will have to deal with another monsoon of flooded streets and colonies.

As many as 25 important nalas (drains) that over-flow and inundate localities during heavy rains were to be widened. And even though the desilting of the nalas has been taken up, it isn’t enough to prevent flooding in low lying areas.

The nalas need to be widened and remodelled so that the rain water discharge capacity of these drains increases but no major work has been done even though the GHMC has the funds.

The civic body has failed to remove around 2,000 encroachments that dot these nalas. The project cannot be executed unless the encroachers are evicted. Besides about half-a-dozen nalas on which work has begun, the GHMC has failed to remove encroachers on the rest of the sites.

At present, the width of a majority of these nalas is as narrow as 10-feet at several stretches, while the maximum width should be 60-feet. Tenders were invited by the civic body and contracts were given to private agencies to finish work on the widening by May 30. However, work hasn’t even started on several nalas. The GHMC officials defended their inability to act saying that “political will” is required for the removal of the encroachments.

Even the Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (HMWS&SB) has not completed the desilting of the sewerage drains. The sewer network that runs up to 18,000 km in the city is maintained by the HMWS&SB. With just a little rain on Sunday, the sewer drains are already over-flowing with rain and sewerage water.