Rain lashes GHMC every year

Despite the municipal corporation collecting more than Rs 1,200 crore as property tax, the city fails to get proper funds for the rain water disposal system. Till date, the old system of pumping water is in practice, unlike many foreign cities. The primary reason for urban flooding is encroachments.

London which receives 50 mm average rainfall in a month has an efficient system of storm water drains, underground cabling of electrical lines, separate pipelines for sewerage, no stagnation points and well maintained roads. Whenever these cities receive heavy rainfall, the water clears off within half an hour.

Hyderabad does not have a network of rain gauges, unlike Mumbai. During monsoons, the corporation should know which area is likely to be flooded; this would help the GHMC deploy more machinery and staff at those spots.

Rain gauges also help plan better traffic management.

Earlier, there was a proposal to set up rain gauges in all the 150 wards in the city. However, the GHMC has installed very few including the ones at its head office, Kapra, Qutbullapur, Charminar, Serlingampally and Kukatpally. The total cost would be about Rs 1.5 crore, but the job has been left to the disaster management agency.

Power tripping is another major issue and underground cabling has been done in few upmarket localities. Lines that were installed 20 to 30 years ago remain unchanged. Damage to transformers is frequent during rains.

The state government had planned to construct 20 flyovers at a cost of Rs 21,000 crore. However this would only help address traffic problems. Till date there has been no proposal on storm water drains.

Various kinds of depression and low lying areas near or around the cities which act as cushions and flood absorbers are gradually filled up and built upon due to urbanisation pressure. This results in inadequate channel capacity causing urban flooding. Reduction (encroachment) in water holding capacity of the lakes is also a reason for urban floods.

Professor K. Purushotham Reddy said, “From Puranapul to Chaderghat bridge, the Nizam had built a retaining wall and developed a river front and even gone to the extent of building a garden for the Hyderabadis. Now inside the retaining wall successive governments have allowed encroachments. Buildings are blocking the flow of water. The 625 km GHMC roads should be revamped with no potholes or stagnation points and all the roads should come under one civic agency”.

“Attach SWD to every main road leading to a lake or the Musi River, remove encroachments and save flood reservoirs like Hussainsagar for Hyderabad region and Hasmathpet lake in old Bowenpally for Secunderabad,” he added.

The GHMC has not yet invested in a rain water disposal system’ that has storm water drains attached to every main road that lead to a lake or the lowest point in the city, which is the Musi river.

There should be a balance between open spaces and built-up areas to drain the rain water.

There is no maximum road level for the main roads, on which two inches of tar is added every year. Due to this, footpaths become low and are flooded during rains. Former chairman of the National Disaster Management Authority Marri Shashidhar Reddy said that Hyderabad was witnessing a change in the pattern of rainfall; presently there are high intensity short duration rains, he said.

“The national guidelines on management of urban flooding was introduced for all cities in 2010, but the GHMC has not followed it in any manner. Efficient well designed drains are lacking,” Mr Shashidhar Reddy said.

“We have blocked the flow of water. Hyderabad has 16 major drains and all these empty into the Musi. The city falls under the Krishna river basin. There are 16 storm water sheds which contributes to the 16 nalas and the corporation has not looked into managing the system.”

He said the biggest drawback was improper disposal of waste and drains have become a dumping ground even in posh colonies. Desilting of drains should be done by the end of March but it is generally not done, he said.

While it has been estimated that a total revamp of the storm water drains would cost the corporation, more than Rs 7,000 crore, not even Rs 200 crore has been spent and just about 233 encroachments removed of the 1,497 listed on the primary drains.

The corporation should set up telly metric rain gauges and directly connect it to the GHMC control room. Every increase in millimeters of rain will be recorded.

Urban planner G. Shankar Narayan said the GHMC should fix a maximum road level for all the main roads. “Don’t add two inches of tar every year. In doing this, footpaths sink below road level (like Tank Bund, Charminar),” he said.

He pointed out that the plinth of new buildings are raised too high, anticipating an increase in road levels a couple of decades hence. This causes the approach ramps to slice footpaths and cutting it into unwalkable bits and pieces.

Lack of lakes. When lakes become smaller, their ability to regulate flow becomes less and this leads to flooding.

Silting: The drains carry large amounts of sediments and this gets deposited in the lower courses making beds shallow, reducing channel capacity. When there is heavy rain these silted drains can't carry the full discharge and it results in flooding.

Rising population and soil erosion increases the risk of flooding.

Deforestation

Trespassing on storm water drains

Unplanned urbanisation is another main cause of urban flooding

Poor water and sewerage management

Lack of flood control measures.