Hyderabad experienced this kind of flooding even earlier in 2000,2008,2016 and 2017 and it’s not a new phenomenon in the city. Many people lose their lives during this kind flooding.
The issue of encroachment of lake beds, areas along the Musi river and storm-water drains not only remain but also continue to proliferate, despite lofty promises by successive governments that they would be removed.
Reports of deaths and studies are not been maintained as a record that have been taken up over the years to identify problems or suggest solutions and put things into practice so that even though this kind of situation arrives hereafter in mere future there would be possiblities to have a control over it.
Kirloskar Committee Report, which was drafted after the floods in 2000, had identified 13,500 illegal constructions and the recent Voyants Consultancy report had identified 28,000 encroachments.
Hussainsagar Catchment Area is under the GHMC and NDMA Urban Flooding Impact Assessment study. The storm water drainage capacity of urban areas has reduced and The Telangana Government too has its own words pointed out in a report that, “Clogged up drains, unauthorised encroachments of the Musi river bed and the development along the riverbanks that block natural drains.
The neighbouring places of LB Nagar, including Saroornagar and Gudimalkapur, have experienced the wrath of flooding more than once in the past month whenever it rained heavily. But there was no action was taken regarding this. The Saroornagar lake has been overflowing due to Encroachments of storm water drains which mainly causes the lake to overflow.
Same is the case with Nizampet, Kukatpally and areas around Toli Chowki which are prone to flooding in case of a downpour. Thakur Rajkumar Singh, who has filed a case in the National Green Tribunal on the encroachment of a lake and nalas in the area, violation of GO 111 and encroachments in Ameenpur, said, “The NGT expert committee, in its report.
People are being evacuated but encroachment has not stopped. Who is to be blamed ? said Lubna Sarwath, a well-known lake protection activist from Hyderabad. River Musi has been breaching the banks not because the river is in spate but because it is cramped with encroachments. A word was passed to the Government to restore the areas of water bodies.
A study from University of Hyderabad published this year reported that 20-25% rain in the recent heavy rainfall in South India can be attributed to the increased urbanisation in the last decade.
By Journalist Natalia Moses
A18TELANGANANEWS
