Andhra Pradesh and Telangana have witnessed heavy downpour from 21st September onwards resulting huge damage to the roads.
The heavy rainfall was caused due to the depression over the Bay of Bengal which led to Hyderabad coming to a standstill for four days. Hyderabad has previously also witnessed similar situation way back in the year in 2000.
Life of Hyderabadis became standstill with waterlogged roads and housing colonies with TRS government blaming the chaos on encroachments on nalas, or storm water drains.
Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao said “There are 28,000 encroachments on nalas in Hyderabad and some of them even in government complexes and we need a huge Rs 11,000 crore and 3-4 years time to rectify and remove them. There has been no innovative reorientation of the drain system since it was first done by Sir M Visvesvaraya in 1930 and for the last 60 years, subsequent governments have only made additions but not overhauled or redesigned it."
KCR said that "the illegal buildings on drains and tank beds needed to be cleared immediately to improve the brand image of Hyderabad as a global city. We will relocate all the poor living in such encroached land free of cost with double bedroom flats, but every illegal construction on nalas, tank beds etc will be demolished, come what may, and whoever it belongs to, whether politician, Minister or MLA. Citizens who provide information on violations will be suitably rewarded up to Rs 10,000."
As many as 41 roads were damaged due to waterlogging in Ameerpet, Banjara Hills, Panjagutta, Malakpet, Chadarghat, Musheerabad, and Mytrivanam.
“Unless water is drained out with heavy duty diesel motors and repaired, they cannot be used. But with the impending rains we cannot do anything right now,” said Disaster Management Assistant Commissioner K Badrinath.
However, KCR denied all media reports about damage to roads, claiming that only 10 percent of the city’s roads have been affected.
Even IT corridors of Madhapur and Gachibowli were also affected due to heavy rainfall. Employees of IT companies were caught in traffic jams on Raidurgam-Gachibowli, Miyapur-Kondapur and other roads leading towards Hitech City and Gachibowli.
Arpita Kulkarni, an IT employee said “We don’t have power at home and basic supplies to stay indoors, so we decided to go to an office and got caught up in traffic jams. What can we do at home, we don’t have cable network or power, and it is better to sit in the office where authorities will provide us something."
GHMC’s Deputy Commissioner P Saroja stated “the rains of the last four days were unprecedented in the last three decades. No infrastructure could handle such downpour. We received 16 cm of rain in a single day on 21st September, as against 32-40 cm throughout the year."
YK Reddy, chief of the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) at Hyderabad warned “the worst is not over yet." Reddy has issued a red alert warning that heavy to very heavy rains are likely to continue.
“It is the low depression in the Bay of Bengal that has driven the rains down south causing heavy downpour,” he said, adding that the La Nina effect had also kicked in.
Also Read: Heavy Rains to Continue for Next 2 Days: IMD
BY M. DIVYA SRI
