Hyderabad: The Hyderabad Disaster Response Assets Monitoring and Protection Agency (HYDRAA) commissioner AV Ranganath stated that it’s 150 Monsoon Emergency Teams (MET) and 51 Disaster Response Force (DRF) teams will be engaged in the removal of garbage and silt at manholes, catch pits, and at 940 culverts in the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation’s (GHMC) limits, even on the days when there are no rains.
HYDRAA’s MET and DRF teams cleared tonnes of plastic waste and silt from the storm water drains in Yousufguda, Mathura Nagar, Krishna Nagar, and Janardhan Reddy Nagar in Gachibowli on Friday, July 4.
They also cleared the garbage accumulated in the catchment area of a nala in Markandeya Colony in Kapra, and the silt accumulated in the nala flowing from the Mantrala Cheruvu in LB Nagar and Jillelaguda Cheruvu.
“This is in fact not our work as per the tender, but still we are supporting GHMC in the silt/garbage removal, as ultimately this will clog the drainage/nalas,” he said, in a statement to the media on Friday.
He stated that HYDRAA will focus primarily on catch pits, culverts and other problematic areas as the removal of garbage/silt at these points would greatly improve the water flow.
In addition to this, he said HYDRAA was working with the engineers engaged in the Strategic Nala Development Programme (SNDP) engineers and the GHMC’s Engineering teams, to remove encroachments on the nalas.
He felt all these measures would aid in mitigating the water-logging, inundation, and flooding problems to a great extent.
“In short, labour engaged by HYDRAA is being used effectively on non-rainy days. On rain forecasted and rainy days, HYDRAA teams will be involved in addressing the water-logging issues on the roads,” he added.
HYDRAA officials cleared encroachments on the flood water nala running from the Nallagandla Cheruvu to the main canal near BHEL X Roads in Lingampalli on Friday, July 4.
Based on a complaint lodged by the SNDP management that 230-metre-long nala was encroached at various places in the 2-km-long SNDP works being undertaken on the nala, HYDRAA cleared the encroachments.
Due to the encroachment of the nala by the boundary of an apartment in Nallagandla Huda Colony, among various other encroachments, during the rains, residences and commercial buildings in the BHEL area used to be inundated with water.
The residents heaved a sigh of relief, hoping that their year-on-year problem of flooding will be resolved, and SNDP works that were stalled due to these encroachments, could resume.
