Hyderabad: Experts suggested government to Link 185 lakes to avoid floods

Hyderabad: Engineering experts suggested the government to link the 185 lakes in the city with modern technology to avoid flooding in the city.

A meeting was organised on 'Unprecedented Rainfall Events in Hyderabad and its Suburbs-2020 Points to Ponder Over' at the Institute of engineers here on Saturday. The engineers later met State Planning Board Vice Chairman B Vinod Kumar and suggested several measures.

The experts suggested the government to restore nalas and remove encroachments thereby streamlining the flood water flow. The experts wanted the government to form a time-bound high-level committee to give a report after deeply examining the situation and suggesting the government corrective measures.

The experts said that about 100 years ago, Hyderabad had a population of about four to five lakh but because of the heavy rains then about 17,000 people died. Fortunately, presently the population of the city was one crore but loss of lives was less.

They said that out of the total colonies inundated, 45 per cent were those in which flooding was reported for the first time. Another 35 per cent of the colonies witnessed floods for second and ten per cent colonies reported floods several times.

The engineers suggested that by linking the water bodies like Gandipet Osmansagar and Himayatsagar water with the catchment area of Musi River, encroachments should be removed and water can be taken out easily. They have also suggested the government that it would be good to clean the water with sewage treatment plants and diverting the flood water to downstream.

The experts said that it was not a big issue to solve the problems of Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation. They added that they would soon meet Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao and Municipal Administration Minister KT Rama Rao and give them a report.