The impending monsoons are likely to bring out a number of gaping craters from underneath the black-top of the city roads, thanks to the age old and dilapidated sewerage network.
Hyderabad has the peculiarity of give-and-take between sewerage lines and storm water drains, and it is a regular feature of the city roads to cave in during rains, exposing the sorry state of affairs beneath, which would result in chaotic traffic situations.
Last year’s cave-in on the NTR Marg was just a case in point, with the middle of the road giving way to a 10-foot deep gorge formed by a broken sewage line, to repair which the Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board officials had to cordon off the road for an entire week. Within no time, another such incident took place at Secunderabad.
While the Board has been mulling over the use of advanced technology in order to repair the line, it has not left the drawing table so far.
“Consultants who studied the cave-in on NTR Marg said heavy vehicles should not be allowed on the stretch for the line to remain intact. We installed a barricade too to stop heavy vehicles,” shared an official.
While use of cured-in-place-pipe (CIPP) technology which is being proposed by the water board can only address the issue to some extent by repairing the old pipeline, it apparently costs much higher than a fresh pipeline.
“It cannot be a substitute to a new pipeline, though the technology is useful in mending the existing old pipelines. The only permanent solution to this recurring problem would be to refurbish the entire sewerage network in the city,” says the official.
However, during a recent press conference, the minister for Municipal Administration and Urban Development K.T.Rama Rao has avoided a question about the laying of new sewerage pipelines for the entire city, by saying it was a fund-intensive project, and cannot be taken up immediately.
A part of the Sewerage Masterplan project as it is called, however, had already been completed in the Old City of Hyderabad, with funding from the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests, during the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh. Four sewage treatment plants were built at Amberpet, Nagole, Nalla Cheruvu and Attapur, and new sewerage network was established with intercept and diversion structures, with a cost of Rs.400 crore.
In phase II, remaining four zones of the city were to be covered with an expenditure of Rs.1240 crore, but the proposals had been rejected by the Government of India, citing paucity of funds under the 12th Five Year Plan. Construction of STPs will need an additional Rs.923 crore. Besides, laying the sewerage lines for the city’s peripheral areas will need a further Rs.3,000 crore including construction of STPs.
Managing Director M.Dana Kishore attributed the shelved project to the fund crunch, and said the Board is planning to take one zone at a time in coming months.
