Hyderabad: The GHMC, now demolishing encroachments on nalas and water bodies, had itself laid a 1-km CC road over a nala in Uppal four years back. A parallel nala is close to vanishing.
According to records with the irrigation department, two nalas should exist parallel to the Musi river’s main canal on the Uppal-Nagole road since the Nizam’s time. One nala was originally meant for drinking water supply and another for sewerage and rain water. Both nalas originated at Amberpet and ended in the grass fields near Boduppal, from where grass was supplied to surrounding villages as cattle fodder. Each nala, according to the records, was at least 25 feet wide and the gap between the two was about 10 feet.
Five years back, the GHMC’s Uppal circle laid a CC road above the drinking water nallah; the road ran from the Metro Cash and Carry outlet to a few colonies in Uppal. Another nala was occupied by a few builders and has shrunk to eight feet wide.
The issue came to light last June, when irrigation officials were looking for the nalas to take up repairs and desilting under the Mission Kakatiya programme. They found the 1-km stretch of the nala was beyond recognition and approached revenue officials.As per the directions of Ranga Reddy collector M. Ragunandhan Rao, the then Uppal tahsildar S. Rajesh Kumar issued a memo (Lr. No. B/653/2015) to the surveyor on October 23, 2015. Based on the report submitted by the surveyor, he gave a report to the collector which stated that the nala was encroached upon and a CCRoad built by the GHMC while another nala had been narrowed down by encroachments.
Uppal tahsildar M. Ester Anita said the report was submitted to the collector and copies were forwarded to irrigation and GHMC officials for action. “So far the GHMC has taken no action. Earlier, it had promised to demolish the road to restore the nala,” she said.
33-foot nala shrunk to 3-foot, many areas vulnerable to flood
Nalas and lakes in Uppal and Boduppal, vanishing or shrinking due to encroachments, are causing quick inundation in low-lying areas and localities downstream. All it takes is some rain, even less than one centimetre of it, to inundate the areas.
The nala from Uppal Pedda Chervu to Boduppal and Pirzadiguda has shrunk to 8 feet against the original width of 25 feet for about 1 km. The ‘Raa Cheruvu’ in Boduppal has been reduced to 25 acres against 40 acres as per records.
Water from Raa Cheruvu flows to Suddakunta and a few agricultural fields through two nalas. At present, the nalas have been encroached upon by builders.
The nallah from Raa Cheruvu to Suddakunta used to be 33 feet wide but now, at a few places, it is just three feet. Due to the encroachment of this nala, low-lying localities like Sairamnagar, Raghavendra Colony, Budagajangala Colony and Dwarakanagar are facing quick inundation.
As per revenue records, Suddakunta was spread over 30 acres. Now it measures just a tenth of that size. The irrigation department which spent about '8 lakh to desilt this kunta under Mission Bhagiratha did not concentrate on encroachments. Two tanks have disappeared at Boduppal and Pirzadiguda out of eight tanks as per revenue records.
Apart from Raa Chervu and Suddakunta, the areas now have Almaskunta, Gudem Chervuu, Pochammakunta, Medipally Cheruvu and Chengi Cherla Cheruvu.
