The government should plan ahead from now on

As continuous downpour on a single day in Hyderabad reminds the citizens of floods ravaging the city in the past as well in 2000 leaving a trail of destruction of property and loss of lives for various reasons, one of the main been lack of modern drainage system and illegal construction taking place on almost every lake bed in the city.

Despite rains every year have been playing havoc with most parts of the roads and streets turned into rivulets with knee-deep water clogging the roads, authorities only paid scant attention by carrying improper repairs which only compounded the problems.

In fact, some of the areas are being neglected for ages in the matter of providing roads and sanitation. The worst flooding on Tuesday devastating the city and throwing life out of gear by leaving thousands stranded in their homes and in streets inundated with neck-deep water exposed the inadequacies in civic infrastructure like not providing even minimal sewage and sanitation facilities.

The sad thing is that despite many years and apparently large sums allocated for improvement of urban sanitation and pre-monsoon precautions, no concrete action were taken to remodel and widen the storm water drain especially in residential and low-lying areas to prevent unnecessary flooding of streets every time it rains heavily.

Despite several views articulated in the press frequently over deteriorating civic infrastructure with water-logging been a concern every year, it is unfortunate the lackadaisical attitude and indifference of authorities is the reason for this calamity which brought acute misfortune to thousands of residents while causing huge dislocation and movement of vehicles.

The fact when engineering marvels are done with precision within the stipulated time, government should hang its head in shame for waiting this calamity to happen and then come out with plans to repair the storm-water drain by taking up the work immediately.

Also, it is a stark reminder to government that it cannot wash its hands by just providing relief and rehabilitation after a disaster. In fact, it is a wake-up call to government to be thankful to army and rescue workers for having done tremendous job in rescuing stranded people in houses and in low lying areas in old city and other parts of Hyderabad by risking their own lives.

Similarly, it was heartening to see good samaritans jumping in the fray to rescue stranded people in large numbers. However the sore point while the herculean task were been undertaken is ugly politics played by MIM members in targeting and stopping an NGO in Tolichowki from carrying out good work of moving older people, women and children people to safer places and providing them with food and water. This is highly condemnable and it is imperative to prevent hooliganism of this sort.

In the final analysis, though the task of putting civic infrastructure in place is formidable and challenging, it is an existential necessity to ameliorate people suffering immensely during a calamity. Hopefully, one expects the government pursues it strongly to replace the antique drainage system by taking up work on a war-footing to end agony and distress faced by people during spells of heavy rains in future.

K R Srinivasan, Secunderabad