Apartment complexes which have come up blocking the rain water flow between lakes around Chandanagar and Miyapur, will now have to accommodate storm water drains through their premises to preclude monsoon flooding next year.
GHMC officials have succeeded in convincing the apartment welfare associations to allow laying of box culvert drains through their premises wherever the water flow is obstructed by the complexes.
“They have agreed to allow storm water drains through their setback spaces, in order not to get flooded next time there are heavy rains,” shared an official from the Corporation.
Many residential localities in the Western Zone, especially Deepti Sri Nagar and colonies of Chandanagar experienced heavy flooding during the monsoons this year, owing to the choked surplus water channels. GHMC had to evacuate residents and provide relief measures.
Box culvert drains will be built through 10 to 12 apartment complexes that blocked the channel between Hafizpet lake and Gangaram Cheruvu, and about four to five complexes between Patel Kunta Cheruvu and Gangaram Cheruvu, besides the widening of the channels along their length, the official said.
In retrospect, urban flooding stands as the single biggest challenge faced by the Corporation this year, and even when compared to many years in the past. Officials and public representatives, besides the emergency response teams of GHMC, spent sleepless nights surveying the roads and colonies whenever there was a downpour.
The skies was exceptionally bountiful this year, complicating the matter further. Rain water cascading down from the peripheral areas had nowhere to go, and besieged many residential localities, holding the residents hostage till rescue teams arrived. Nacharam, Uppal, and Kapra were the localities where citizens suffered. Ramanthapur Pedda Cheruvu got choked as the surplus weir was narrowed down to a trickle, and the surrounding localities had to spend an unbelievably long spell in water, fearing infections, mosquitoes and another spell of rain. On Madhapur-Gachibowli stretch, thoroughfares were flooded, and officials have discovered tonnes of plastic covers choking the storm water drains. Thus followed the drive against plastic covers, wherein cases were booked on users and manufacturers of plastic covers less than 50 microns in thickness.
The year was defined for GHMC not only by urban flooding but also by the mandate to spruce up part of the city, and make grand arrangements for the Global Entrepreneurship Summit-2017, that had taken place in Nov. Many road stretches which were in pathetic condition earlier got immediate attention, and social media erupted with critical posts about other areas being neglected.
Perhaps, the top rank accorded to GHMC among all other corporations in the country, by the Swachh Bharat Mission, provided a respite. Sanitation has received considerable attention, thanks to the Swachh Survekshan ranking programme. Sites were identified for shifting of construction and demolition waste, and vehicles launched for the same.
