Water Bodies Protection Key for City's Future: HYDRAA Chief

 Hyderabad: “If we want to protect the city for the next 100 years, we need to protect our water bodies,” HYDRAA commissioner A.V. Ranganath said on Monday. Addressing a press conference, he noted that Hyderabad witnessed several cloudbursts and mini-cloudbursts this monsoon and announced that a proposal would soon be sent to the government to increase Disaster Response Force (DRF) teams and Monsoon Emergency Teams (METs).

Ranganath said HYDRAA has reclaimed 923 acres of land worth nearly Rs 50,000 crore by clearing 581 illegal structures since its inception. The reclaimed land includes government plots, roads, lakes, parks, and nalas.

During the current monsoon, DRF teams attended to 4,625 tree fall cases, 319 fire accidents, 1,613 water stagnation complaints, 35 building collapses and 221 rescue calls. At present, 51 DRF teams with 825 personnel are active in the city, supported by 150 METs and 368 static staff deployed at 240 chronic waterlogging points.

The agency is also using GIS, drones, satellite data, IoT and AI to track assets and disasters. More than 1,200 lakes and nearly 5,000 km of nalas have been mapped, with plans for geo-fencing, CCTV surveillance, and annual monitoring to safeguard public assets.

Referring to the recent demolition drive at Gajularamaram, where 260 unauthorised constructions made with fake pattas were removed, Ranganath said, “We did not touch nearly 900 houses there because people were living in them. We demolished only 260 structures under construction. The revenue department had previously issued several notices and we acted at their request.”