Hyderabad: Nampally circle areas again stare at waterlogging scare

Hyderabad : Many areas in the Nampally circle have been bearing the brunt of waterlogging with each heavy rain for the last several years. Nampally, Mallepally, Aghapura, Begum Bazar, have high chances of getting inundated this monsoon if the pending works are not taken up immediately.

The lack of concern of officials to complete the monsoon works has been making the life of the residents’ highly miserable. Residents of several colonies told Hans India that severe water logging has been a problem for long as there is no proper passage for the rainwater to flow into the drains. Every year people have been suffering as their household items get damaged. A repeat of the same this year too is imminent, they rue.

These areas have been identified as low-lying areas. With every heavy downpour, the houses get flooded and basements of apartments get inundated and vehicles are submerged under rain water causing extensive damage. Streets too remain under knee deep water making life horrible.

During the recent rains in Mallepally area near the Badi Masjid, children saw swimming in rainwater, as the street was flooded with water up to 3-feet,” said Majid Ali, a resident of Mallepally.

Residents recall how during last year's rains, social media was flooded with memes as many residents posted videos and showed a man swimming on the roads in Mallepally and shared it as ‘Mallepally Wonderla’.

Though the GHMC claims it took up various civic works including the laying of new stormwater drain network, upgradation of box drains, to prevent inundation during rains, there was no relief or change of situation during the recent spate of rains which the city has been facing.

Areas including Nampally, Mallepally, Vijay Nagar colony, Aghapura, Begum Bazar, Darussalam, Habeeb Nagar, Komatkunta faced problems of water logging. The GHMC is facing criticism for their failure for the monsoon action plan. A resident Yousufuddin said, “With their lackadaisical attitude, officials have ignored the issue of waterlogging and have taken no steps to prevent water inundation.”

Naveen Yadav, a resident of Komatkunta said that the water in these areas comes from areas such as Banjara Hills and Mehdipatnam. Despite claims that a storm water drain infrastructure exists and a box drain upgradation was done, it got flooded during the recent rains, says Naveen.

Another problem is that almost all major nalas would overflow with rainwater and flow across localities. Dirty water would gush out of manholes. Nalas like Habeeb Nagar Nala and Aghapura nala would be flooded and nearby areas will face inundation, residents add.