Hyderabad: The torrential rains turned many parts of the city dirty belts of sludge and stagnated puddles with residents finding it difficult to get rid of the muck and muddy water. Residents in several colonies in different parts of the city, especially south and east zones, are struggling hard to get their premises clean and to save their valuables by pumping out water from the houses.
Though rainfall subsided since Thursday night, areas including Ayyappa Colony, MS Makta, Midhunanagar, Srinivasa Colony, Lingojiguda, Sriramnagar Colony and Tapovan Colony are still having knee-deep water. The excess rainwater, mixed with overflowing drains, has been making the life of residents miserable.
The sights of residents using water pumps, buckets and other utensils to pump out water from their houses in several colonies – Saroornagar, Bandlaguda, Tolichowki and Ramanthapur – are quite common. Many residents in these colonies have shifted to houses of relatives in other areas and are coming back just to collect valuables from their homes wading through knee-deep water. Most of these colonies are close to lakes which are still full to the brim.
“Our house has been submerged in rainwater for more than four days now, and we are worried about the structural stability,” says M. Manoj, a resident of Tapovan Colony. While damage to property and valuables was not high for those in the first and second floors, those living in ground floors were badly affected by the inundation.
"Almost all the manholes in the area are overflowing and the water is yet to recede. It is very risky to move around as the fear of snakes in the water lurking,” says S. Satish Reddy, pointing to an overflowing manhole on Street No. 13 in Ayyappa Colony.
Anjanadri Nagar Colony (Nagaram), Kondandramnagar, Seesala Basti, P&T Colony (Dilsukhnagar), Sainagar, Tapovan Colony, Green Park (Saroornagar), Jillelaguda, and several colonies in Uppal were inundated, with rainwater affecting the mobility of residents.
Apart from collecting valuables and pumping out rainwater, residents in Baba Nagar near railway tracks, Bapu Nagar, Amberpet, Osman Nagar, Nadeem Colony, MS Makta and Srinivasa Colony are now worried about the spread of seasonal diseases.
"We have been living in a constant state of fear. With IMD predicting heavy rainfall in the next two days, our tryst with water would continue for another week to 10 days. We have less fear of inundation but the spread of seasonal diseases with no help coming from the authorities is definitely a matter of concern. During flash floods in October last year, over 30 persons including children fell prey to seasonal diseases and a few of them lost their lives", said Mohammad Imran, Sriramnagar Colony.
In Spite of Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao's instructions no higher official or field level staff were seen at the inundated areas. However, officials, in a knee jerk reaction, converted the Covid-19 command control room to a monsoon emergency control room. City mayor Gadwal R Vijaylakshmi advised citizens to call 040-21111 111, dial 100 or register a grievance on MyGHMC application. She said 324 monsoon action teams were available round the clock for any help. She informed that so far the corporation had received 192 complaints on GHMC's call centre number, 32 through dial 100 and 59 complaints from MyGHMC app. She said apart from time consuming grievances, all of them were resolved immediately.
