Cantonment residents demand stormwater drains soon

Hyderabad: The week-long rain has raised concerns among the Secunderabad Cantonment residents, specially those residing in low-lying areas. Vexed with no permanent solution being provided by authorities to prevent flooding, they demanded construction of storm water drains at the earliest.

Locals pointed out that though there is no downpour now, there is water- logging in most lanes. The main reason for overflowing is dumping of plastic in drains and lanes. This causes drain water to overflow into lanes whenever there is a downpour.

Abhishek Kattela of West Marredpally said, "It is not the first time we are dealing with such a situation. Whenever it rains our colony gets flooded; we are forced to spend sleepless nights. Whenever we complain to the SCB officials they give us false promises that they would take up cleaning/development works. Till now no permanent solution has been provided. It will be better if they construct storm water drains".

According to Sai Kumar, a resident of SCB, "De-silting nalas is not enough for stopping overflow of drains. The drainage system is a decade old. It is causing hardship to locals. With every rain, the situation is turning worst. Despite several appeals and petitions sent to concerned authorities, they have done nothing to prevent flooding in low-lying areas."

T Satish Kumar Gupta, social worker said, "As for the past one week the city received continuous rain, water is stagnant in many lanes, shows no sign of receding. I tried even calling the Cantonment helpline number but no official responded. We have many times requested the SCB to construct storm water drains as they provide great relief to people."