Hyderabad: The repeated re-laying of main arterial roads over the years has resulted in the creation of new low-lying areas. Numerous malls and showrooms dot the Punjagutta main road but localities behind these commercial buildings have turned into low-lying areas.The main road is now at a raised incline and rain water from the main road runs into the lower areas of the localities around it.
An ideal road has four layers. But as quality and bad material is used initially, the roads lose their layers and have to be re-laid time and again, thus increasing its level.
From the Chief Minister’s camp office to Punjagutta, Raj Bhavan, Ministers’ Road, the levels have been raised over the years. Due to this, the houses are now at a level lower than the roads.
“Due to the road level being raised each time roads are laid, the rainwater gets mixed with the sewage water during heavy rainfall”, said Mr Sai Prasad of Sindhi Colony. “We have asked the Water and Sewerage Board to increase the height of the pipeline so that the water can flow along through it.”
Prof. N.V. Ramana, a civil engineering expert at JNTU, explained how a road must be re-laid, “While re-laying a road, the contractor must scrape the old road to maintain the slope. Even while constructing buildings, one must increase the plinth level so that over the years the house remains at a higher level than the road.”
He said road-building starts from a basic layer called WBM, followed by an immediate layer of road material, topped with a wearing coat, which should be maintained at 2-3 inches.
“Once a road is laid, it is supposed to last 5-10 years. To avoid problems in the low-lying areas, every road should have a parallel storm-water drain, so that the water doesn’t enter the localities,” he said.
In 2016, when some of the roads were re-laid, the old road was scraped, said authorities. The levels of the newly laid roads in all prime localities are higher than the localities around them. Shantinagar, DD Colony, Amberpet, Bagh Lingampally, NMDC, All India Radio, Mediciti Hospital, PCR, Fever Hospital, RTC Crossroads, Banjara Hills Road No. 2, TRS office, TDP office, I-T office, Jubilee Hills Road No. 70 and 76 are a few low-lying areas that have turned so due to the increase in road level.
