Flooding and waterlogging in Hyderabad spotlight misplaced priorities in urban development

Pockets of Chandrayangutta, Falaknuma and Rajendranagar circles of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC), where the highest rainfall of just 5 cm was recorded in Bandlaguda, were worst affected and exposed the under-preparedness of the municipal authorities.

Dr K Nagarathna, director of IMD-Hyderabad, said that rains would continue to lash the state in the coming days as the monsoon had set in. “We can expect some good rains gradually but only normal to below normal rainfall in many districts. There will be heavy rainfall here and there. We have predicted an excess rainfall of 106 per cent for the southwest monsoon season,” she said.

Following the deluge of October 2020, which saw overnight rainfall of up to 36 cm at certain pockets, the state government and the GHMC have been relentlessly endorsing their Rs 954 crore-worth Strategic Nala Development Programme (SNDP), as the mechanism to mitigate future floods in the city. Nearly two years later, the corporation says that 50 to 60 per cent of each of its 37 works is complete.

Under the SNDP, the GHMC is implementing 37 works at Rs 757 crore whereas another 23 works are taken up by adjoining 9 municipalities at Rs 197 crore. According to the corporation, it has studied the city’s existing storm-water drainage network to identify narrow points, encroachments of channels, etc. The works under progress include widening existing nalas, desilting, restoration of lakes, construction of new bridges and sluice gates, and allowing for diversion of run-off from waterbodies to nearby colonies.

As images of inundated low-lying areas and river-like water flow on streets emerged on Wednesday morning, the GHMC is facing criticism for their failure to complete the flagship project before the monsoon. Municipal Administration Minister KT Rama Rao, while speaking at the launch of the department’s annual report recently, asked the media to be kind in their reporting as he believed some areas of the city would witness flooding this year too as works were in progress. All cities are bound to face inconveniences due to flooding, he had said, while assuring the audience that the government is working on this.

As images of inundated low-lying areas and river-like water flow on streets emerged on Wednesday morning. (Photos: Videogras from viral videos)

Prepared, ready to do anything to prevent loss of lives: Mayor

GHMC mayor Gadwal Vijayalaxmi told indianexpress.com on Wednesday that the corporation would do everything on its part to prevent any loss of life. “It is not true to say there has been a delay in implementation of works. Of all the major works, 90 per cent are complete. The rest will be done by the second week of July. With the experience of 2020, we are well prepared for the monsoons this year. Our emergency teams are on the ground. We are coordinating well with other wings and departments. I am going to review the progress every week,” the mayor said, adding, “the city is growing and then there will be problems but the corporation is confident of handling these situations.”

As part of a pre-monsoon safety audit, an official on the condition of anonymity said, the civic body has identified 300 vulnerable points adjoining different nalas and covered these locations with safety meshes and installed signboards. GHMC engineering wing’s 168 mobile and mini-mobile monsoon action teams, and 19 teams of GHMC’s disaster management wing will work with the electricity, water and police departments, he said. Control rooms are set up in the headquarters as well as zonal offices.

The mayor did admit that there has been a delay in certain aspects. “It is regarding the acquisition of properties that people have encroached upon inside and along the nalas. We are trying to convince them to relocate by offering two-bedroom government housing. That work is progressing. Otherwise, desilting of nalas is a round-the-year activity. We focussed on places such as LB Nagar, Uppal etc that suffered flooding last time. About 70 per cent of the construction of retaining walls along the nalas are complete,” she explained.

SNDP a cash cow, disaster inevitable, say activists

Environmental activists and experts feel the city is waiting for an inevitable disaster. Stressing that the city is not ready for rain, climate change expert Dr BV Subba Rao asked the government to make the approach, contents, strategy and plans behind SNDP public. “Hyderabad is a city of lakes. These lakes are clustered in groups. Our entire urban hydrology must be based on the hydrology of the networking of the lakes rather than what we are talking about nalas,” Rao, a technical member (reservoirs, lakes and water domain) with the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), said. “The lakes, which are flood-regulating structures, are under the irrigation department, and irrigation engineers are not trained on urban hydrology and urban flooding. Violating the regulations in the catchments is the root cause of urban flooding and inundation of low-lying areas.”

As many as 14 cases filed by lake activist Dr Lubna Sarwath, the state president of water resources council of the Womens’ Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, against the encroachment of waterbodies have been in various stages of trial before different courts since 2015. A case against the encroachment of the Hussainsagar, Mamasanikunta, Narsingi and Bum-Rukn-ud-dowla lakes is before the National Green Tribunal in Chennai, whereas a case against the construction of a road inside the Nacharam lake is before the State Human Rights Commission.

A case she filed against the encroachment of Surramcheruvu in Bandlaguda is currently before the Lokayukta. Over the past seven years, she has filed cases in the Telangana High Court against the encroachment of the Hussainsagar lake, Khajaguda Talab, Malkamcheruvu, Devunikunta near Asif Nagar, Pallecheruvu near Mailardevpally, Nayaquila Talab, Shahahtam Talab, Jamalikunta Talab, Brahmankunta lake in Puppalaguda, and against specific encroachments of river Musi. Dr Sarwath said, “I am on record to say if our city is drowning, our judiciary is culpable. I mean every word of it. Given the number of cases we are fighting at various judicial platforms, the judiciary is condoning encroachments. This is my point,” she added.

Even as voices against the state’s move to repeal GO-111 grew stronger recently, with activists seeking protection of the Nizam-era reservoirs Osman Sagar and Himayat Sagar, minister Rama Rao said his government intended to protect all the 3,000 lakes in Hyderabad and not just the two. However, activists have been apprehensive about the government’s idea of protecting the lakes by constructing roads, gardens and amenities inside the lake’s full tank level in the name of its beautification. “All lakes are either fully or partially encroached on by the government itself or by the private sector with the support of the government,” said Dr Sarwath.

A strong critic of SNDP, Dr Sarwath said that all that the government was required to do was free up the nalas that connect one lake to the other to ensure the free flow of water. “SNDP is a cash cow. There is no need to build concrete walls along the nalas. Now the wall on either side will prevent rainwater from entering these nalas that are erected either on the bund, edge or even inside the channels. SNDP is anything but about the naturalisation of the streams and channels connecting the lakes,” she said.