Preparedness of authorities for possible Musi flooding questioned

Hyderabad: As the threat of rise in flood levels in Musi river looms large, those living in low lying areas are apprehensive about the preparedness by the authorities. Residents on the banks of the river are having anxious moments and are gearing up for facing the grave situation in this monsoon. In wake of authorities opening two gates of Osman Sagar on Wednesday in the upper riparian in addition to the waters being released from Himayat Sagar for almost a week, they have kept their fingers crossed.

Citing response from the officials he has received, one of the residents and local activist, Syed Bilal said that none of the officials from either Revenue or GHMC reached the localities which remain vulnerable during monsoon season. “The officials are yet to take stock of the situation here. Only visible here are the cops who are interacting with dwellers here. When I asked the local revenue officials, he informed me that there was no communication from higher ups over the issue,” said Bilal, the vice president of Human Rights Forum.

With the water flow rising close to the small bridge at Malakpet, an indication of risk of flooding in nearby localities the locals remained apprehensive. “Once the water levels rise and flow from above the bridge it means houses start to get flooded. People here are keeping tabs on the water level and for now it did not touch the bridge,” said K Rammurthy, residing near Chaderghat’s small bridge.

In 2022, during the same period (July 3rd/4th week) the authorities alerted the residents as Himayatsagar witnessed maximum inflows. On July 23 (previous year), 6-gates of Osmansagar were lifted upto 3-feet, apart from 1-gate of Himayatsagar’s to release surplus waters. The outflows from Osman Sagar touched 1788 cusecs.

The SNDP works near Malakpet’s Railway under Bridge (RuB) which were completed earlier are considered to help ease the earlier choking points. However the effectiveness of the recent desilting works prior to monsoon will be under test as 45 bastis on the southern side remain under risk on the Azampura side.

Meanwhile, Mayor Gadwal Vijayalaxmi in the evening reviewed the situation with the officials. She spoke to Zonal Commissioners and instructed them to take all the necessary steps. She instructed the officials to alert the ground staff and identify the low -lying areas and vulnerable localities so that the residents do not face problems in the event of flooding.