Citizens chip in to clear water-logging

Malakpet: Following the torrential rains that lashed the city, several areas under Old City were affected, forcing the commuters and locals to clear the wading waters, as the GHMC's Monsoon Emergency Team (MET) and Disaster Response Force (DRF) lacked sufficient resources.

Even as the GHMC remained on alert during the last few days, the deployment of MET was seen only in a few areas. In the affected areas like Malakpet, Chaderghat, Yakutpura, Rein Bazar, Talabkatta, Moghalpura, Shahalibanda, Shamsheergunj, Baba Nagar, Chandrayangutta, Hassan Nagar, Bahadurpura, Kishanbagh, Karwan, Asif Nagar and Tolichowki, the team could only arrive after the water had receded to some extent.

"To rescue the people from wading waters and to control inundation of the colonies, local public, traffic police, leaders, social activists and corporators are coming forward to clear the waterlogged roads in affected areas. Due to the recent rainfall, areas in Old City have been affected and the water stagnation problem is adding to the woes of the people, especially in areas close to major nalas and RuBs. No monsoon team is sent by the GHMC in these areas," said Abdul Rahman, civic activist.

Abdul Rahman said that in Yakutpura constituency, especially in one circle, there are 6 divisions and around Rs 16 lakh was sanctioned for each division for monsoon, but none of the teams were seen during the rains. During the last 3 days, water logging has been seen even 24-hours the rains receded, and the residents and commuters have cleared the water in these areas, he added.

Some of the major waterlog areas are seen near the Railway under Bridges (RuBs) in Malakpet, Yakutpura and Talabkatta, where the water inundated the roads and houses for about 4 to 5 feet during every rainfall. Also, most of them are busy roads and the traffic was badly affected.

"Every time one can see that the commuters or a traffic police is clearing the water in Malakpet RuB, and motorists find difficult to pass impacting the pace of the traffic movement. There should be some permanent solution for this," said Emraan Khan, a commuter.

After heavy rainfall on Thursday, MLA (Yakutpura) Syed Ahmed Pasha Quadri, along with Charminar Zonal Commissioner B Srinivas Reddy, inspected the on-going works of Dabeerpura nala.

"The houses were inundated in the areas of Yakutpura constituency. Many a time, the residents have complained about the issue, but of no avail. Local corporator or MLA visits the areas and assure to resolve the problem, but still no solution has been found yet," said Mohiduddin, a resident of Yakutpura.