Body Found Under Stagnant Water, Locals Blame Civic Officials

Hyderabad: The body of an unidentified man, suspected to be about 30–35 years old, was found floating in a flooded railway underpass (RuB) at Chandanagar on Sunday morning.

Police suspect that he may have accidentally fallen into the water, while locals blame authorities for not addressing the issue of flooding at RuB, which becomes a death trap following heavy rain.

Incidentally, officials began dewatering the RuB later at night, after reportedly ignoring complaints for long.

“The water stagnates up to 10 feet at RuB almost every year and stays like this for a month. Civic authorities pump it out only after the rain stops,” Chandanagar assistant sub-inspector S. Anjaneyulu said, adding that a case of death under suspicious circumstances was registered.

A HYDRAA official, speaking to Deccan Chronicle, said that the RuB had been closed due to the rain and repair works were being undertaken by the GHMC. “We suspect the man may have been under the influence of alcohol and slipped into the water.”

However, residents of Pappireddy Colony and HUDA Colony, located 2 km from the railway station, said the life was lost due to the negligence of civic authorities.

Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, Baddam Kondal Reddy, president of the Pappireddy Colony Welfare Association, said the water stagnation was a result of engineering defects and rampant encroachments on two nearby lakes – Gopi Cheruvu and Chakali Cheruvu. “We had filed a petition earlier before the Lokayukta as well. GHMC workers often dump fallen trees and other debris here, making the water even more difficult to clear.”

Speaking about the encroachments, Kondal Reddy said, “Several Rajiv Gruha Kalpa houses have been built by encroaching on lakebeds. We have complained about this to HYDRAA several times but received no response. We see stagnated water at the underpass for almost 300 of the 365 days in a year.”

“Most people are forced either to take the Lingampally underpass or a narrow lane beside the Chandanagar railway station, which becomes extremely slippery during the rain,” he explained.

“A friend of mine had earlier fallen into the stagnated water, when it was not so deep, and was severely injured,” said Human Rights and Consumer Protection Cell managing trustee Thakur Raj Kumar Singh, adding that he, along with other locals, had filed a petition before the National Green Tribunal (NGT) in 2023.

“Due to heavy encroachments on the southern side, where the lakes are located, the water has nowhere to go but into the underpass,” he said.

He further added that the NGT had directed the GHMC to look into the matter. As a result, GHMC undertook the construction of a box drain and a box culvert. However, the work has remained incomplete for two years.

“This isn’t just an accident, it’s the result of years of neglect,” Thakur said. “The underpass was originally designed as a floodwater canal, and not for traffic. Authorities converted it without proper planning, and now both water and debris keep collecting there year after year.”

“Despite the NGT order, the GHMC has neither installed permanent pumps to drain the water nor cleared the pathway for the natural flow. Many locals objected to it too.”

“The MLA inaugurated the project two years ago, but the box culvert is still incomplete,” he said, adding that many people are forced to use the route daily because alternatives are far away.

The South Central Railway (SCR) had earlier installed a banner at the site, urging people not to enter the RuB if there was water inside.