Apathy of civic bodies leaves Hyderabad roads awful

HYDERABAD: Two major civic bodies in the megalopolis — the GHMC and the HMWS&SB – seem to be functioning without coordination, thus depriving lakhs of road users in the capital of a hassle-free commute.

Motorists have to put up with damaged roads and sewerage overflowing in every nook and corner of the city. While the Water Board digs the roads, it also damages the sewer and stormwater drainage network. When the GHMC re-lays roads, the HMWS&SB digs them diagonally. In the process, both the nodal agencies have been damaging each other's infrastructure, and this is only benefiting the contractors.

For instance, a King Koti resident complained about road damage near St Joseph School. The corporation authorities, in a knee-jerk reaction, laid a cement concrete road in the stretch after milling it. While laying the road on the right-hand side, the contractor damaged the drinking water pipeline.

The HMWS&SB got it repaired as there was a massive leakage. Then, the GHMC, while laying the road on the left-hand side, damaged the sewerage network resulting in massive leakage in front of the school.

The HMWS&SB officials said that they did not have the budget to repair the sewerage network. Officials said their revenues were badly hit due to the 20K-litre free drinking water scheme and they did not have Rs 2 lakh to replace the 75-metre stretch drain.

The authorities said it was not a good idea to repair the existing 6 mm diameter pipeline, and said that it needed to be upgraded to an 8 mm to 10 mm diameter line to meet future needs. The authorities said the issue was even taken to the notice of Khairatabad MLA Danam Nagender, yet could not be resolved.

While the sewerage has been overflowing continuously in front of the school, where thousands of students come for their education, Sankranti holidays came as their saviour.  This is just the tip of an iceberg and such scenes can be witnessed across the city.

Complaints about dusty roads are quite common, while a few stretches have become non-commutable owing to complete erosion of BT. High amounts of dust have been causing severe inconvenience to commuters at Bandlaguda, Uppal, Narayanguda, Boduppal, Mylardevpally, Falaknuma, Purana Pul, Nampally and other areas of the city.

Though the GHMC has been spending crores of rupees for the development of roads, nothing has happened to the by-lanes in residential colonies and bastis.

Officials said the corporation had not been informing other nodal agencies while laying roads so that they could shift utilities. The GHMC staff, at their will, has allegedly been damaging drinking water pipelines and sewerage pipelines in the process.

The Water Board officials claimed that they had been depending on the state government for salaries, since the board was already bankrupt with no revenue and more expenditure. They said the HMWSSB was not in a financial position to even take up minor sewerage network repairs.