Hyderabad: Flood fear returns to haunt pepole in Jalpally

Jalpally: With only a week left for monsoon residents of Osman Nagar and surrounding colonies in Jalpally municipality – which were submerged consecutively since two years during rain, now face a fresh fear of inundation.

Most people in the affected areas are venting frustration over non-completion of the nala work under the Strategic Nala Development Project (SNDP) aimed at tackling the inundation issue that has been haunting residents of the affected colonise ever since 2000 when flood fury first created a havoc after incessant rain.

Nala work was proposed to provide relief to people of areas like Osman Nagar, Arafath Colony, Mariyam Colony, Mawazeer Colony, Amreen Colony, Nabil Colony, which face inundation during rainy season every year.

Though the SNDP nala work was planned from Kummarikunta to Gurram Cheruvu last year to drain out storm water from the affected areas during rainy season, a significant portion of the work is still pending. According to official statistics, a proposal to construct a nala from Kummarikunta to Gurram Cheruvu was approved in April 2021 at an estimated cost of Rs.10.66 crore under Phase-I.

However, if officials are to be believed, the work commenced only in March this year, almost a year after sanctioning. "Of a total length of 2,000 metres, merely 640 meters of work was taken up so far; 280 metres of length was completed, while excavation was done on another 360 metres. Still a length of 1,360 metres need to be taken up, informed an SNDP official supervising the work.

While the first phase work is yet to be completed, another proposal of 900 metre work was made to the GHMC SNDP wing, in March this year for sanction of a project under phase-II at an estimated cost of Rs.27.26 crore. The proposal is still pending with the civic body. When asked what if the rain season sets in and the phase-II work is still in the process of approval, the official said, "We are trying to complete whatever the task we have in hand within next one month as we have begun the work only two months back." Rued Rashed Khan, a senior Congress leader, "With just one-third of the total nala work completed and over 70 per cent still pending and some is under the process of approval, how the SNDP officials can claim that they would complete the task in another one month? This is just eyewash. If rains set in people of the affected areas will be left with no option but to suffer in silence again."