State agencies carrying out developmental works in the city are as much culpable for the heavy water logging on certain road stretches, as private developers resorting to haphazard layouts blocking the rainwater contours.
The problem has been compounded ever since the city’s road stretches were divided between GHMC and Hyderabad Road Development Corporation Limited (HRDCL), ostensibly for the sake of better road infrastructure.
A case in point is the footpath near the TCS campus in Gachibowli, which had to be cut through, barely months after construction, as it was obstructing water bail-out during the recent rain.
The well-manicured, wide pavement adorning a stretch of the Old Mumbai Highway in Gachibowli has been cut, as an emergency measure to let the stagnant rain water reach the drain on the other side.
Pavement damaged
Starting near the traffic police station and running parallel a little away from the boundary wall of the TCS campus, the pavement has been damaged at least in two places. The hurried manner in which the pavement has been cut has raised questions on whether prior planning to identify and make provision for the existing channels could have helped.
On the other side of the road too, the pavement running from the boundary wall of IIIT Hyderabad all the way till Gachibowli stadium, has suffered damage on account of work related to telecom cables and resitement of bus stops.
Prior to construction of the pavement, undertaken ahead of the Assembly elections last year, there used to be outlet in IIIT-H boundary wall ostensibly serving as a channel to drain rainwater. It has since gone underground.
The ongoing road widening works on the stretch too are raising many eyebrows, as stagnant water could wipe out the freshly laid BT within no time. The works should have been finished before monsoon or taken up later, residents feel.
Passing the buck
GHMC officials, when questioned, immediately point fingers at HRDCL, to whom the road stretch was handed over. The pavement too was built by HRDCL, without paying much heed to the issue of rainwater evacuation. No vents were made into the footpath for the water to reach the other side.
“At most locations where water bail-out problems occurred, developmental works by various agencies proved to be the reason, be it HRDCL or HMRL or our own SRDP contractors. Engineers from these agencies are not involved with routine maintenance issues, hence are not familiar with the terrain or drain network,” a senior official from GHMC said.
At one location in Madhapur, the median constructed by HMRL had to be broken to release the stagnant rain water. This is not the first time the median was broken, as such measures had been taken earlier too during monsoon.
Besides, construction silt and debris from SRDP locations entered the drains along with plastic waste, thereby choking them, the official said.
