Two more gates of the Himayatsagar reservoir were lifted in addition to the 5 lifted the day before, releasing 2,400 cusecs of flood water from the drinking water reservoir into the Musi, following the visit of Municipal Administration and Urban Development secretary Arvind Kumar on Friday.
Accompanied by Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply & Sewerage Board (HMWSSB) MD Dana Kishore, the secretary inspected the manually operated floodgates and had discussions with officials.
A few gates were lifted on Tuesday once the reservoir reached the full tank level of 1,763.50 ft., releasing 1,000 cusecs and later 3 more gates were lifted on Thursday releasing 1,700 cusecs of water. The officials later inspected Osmansagar (Gandipet) also and went round the valve room. It was decided to keep a tight vigil on the inflows and outflows as well as the Musi flood flow downstream across the banks to ensure that people don’t venture anywhere nearby.
Mr. Kumar wanted the Hyderabad and Rangareddy collectorate staff as well as the GHMC and police to be ready to shift people living in the low-lying slums and the colonies in case of more flows. Water Board executive director M. Satyanarayana, technical director Ravi Kumar and other top officials -- Dasarthram Reddy and G.M. Ramakrishna were also present.