Telangana: High Court order on Osman Nagar hailed

Pahadishareef: The High Court order directing the Telangana government to clear the stagnant waters in Osman Nagar has been widely welcomed by the flood-victims.

A petition was filed by a 60-year-old Syeda Begum, a resident of Osman Nagar under Jalpally Municipality, in the High Court against the inaction of government in clearing the water for the past 50 days. The petition first came up for hearing on October 28. High Court judge Justice A Abhishek Reddy, in his judgment directed the State government to clear the stagnated water from Osman Nagar and surrounding areas and to take precautionary measures so that no waterborne diseases are spread in that area.

Government was asked to submit a report to the High Court. On Monday, the High Court order came as a relief to more than thousand families whose houses remained submerged in rainwater. "The Government of Telangana turned a blind eye to their problems. The families are forced to live on footpaths or with their relatives. Especially, children and elderly are facing many difficulties and there is a serious risk of getting attracted to viral diseases," said Amjedullah Khan, the spokesperson of MBT, who pursued the matter with authorities and helped the flood victims.

Khan also alleged that despite the orders from the High Court and Telangana State Human Rights Commission asking the government to clear the stagnated rainwater from the Osman Nagar and surrounding areas in Jalpally municipality, the authorities delayed clearing the rainwaters on one pretext or the other. It may be mentioned here that for last more than 2 months, the Osman Nagar in Jalpally municipality remained inundated in water and last month a petition was filed by the resident of Osman Nagar in Telangana High Court against the inaction of Government of Telangana in clearing the stagnated water for the past 50 days. The High Court directed Telangana government to clear the stagnating water and the decision of court was welcomed by the residents.