Municipal Administration Minister K.T. Rama Rao made a whirlwind tour of flood-hit areas in the city on Wednesday to assess the damage and assure people of possible help. He directed officials accompanying him to address the issues raised by people soon.
He was busy since morning reviewing the situation and the government’s assistance and later visited several colonies that were flooded where people spent a sleepless night on Tuesday.
Accompanied by Home Minister Mahmood Ali, Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar, DGP M. Mahender Reddy, GHMC Commissioner Lokesh Kumar and many others, he visited colonies in Bairamalguda at L.B. Nagar that were flooded and interacted with locals.
Locals complained of little assistance from officials, despite the local tank breaching and flooding the colonies. As some youngsters tried to bring the issues to the notice of KTR, they were dragged away by his security men. They alleged that police took them away and beat them up mercilessly for trying to reach out to the Minister. Their grouse was against L.B. Nagar MLA D. Sudheer Reddy and they alleged that he has never visited the colony.
Mr. KTR asked the MLA and the corporator concerned to assist them. Later, the team visited the colonies in Ramanthapur and Habsiguda hit by the flood water from the overflowing Ramanthapur lake.
Seeing the water-logged houses and inundated colonies, he gave several suggestions to Uppal MLA Subhash Reddy and other officials on mitigating the problems related to the lake.
He then visited Azampura, Teegalguda, Moosarambagh and Shankar Nagar in Malakpet accompanied by local MLA Ahmed Balala. He said that the government was ensuring food, bedsheets and medicines for people in inundated areas. The Minister cautioned people that the rains were likely to continue for a couple of days and they should move to the rescue shelters of the GHMC.
Later, he toured Chandrayangutta, Santosh Nagar and Falaknuma, where he was joined by Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi and other MLAs. He inspected the road at Aramghar that got washed away, and asked officials to repair the road immediately.
He held a teleconference and instructed GHMC officers to vacate dilapidated buildings. According to officials, as many as 19 dilapidated structures were demolished at Charminar, Falaknuma, Lal Darwaza, Santoshnagar, and Champapet. People were evacuated from 14 houses at Jummerat Bazaar, Afzal Sagar, Chintal Basthi and other neighbourhoods. At least 35 people living along the Musi in Mangalhat area were evacuated.
