Hyderabad: Osmangunj to get rid of sewage issue soon

Hyderabad: Every year during monsoon Osmangunj and Begum Bazar areas get flooded with sewerage water due to nala overflow. Following pleas from people for several years, the long-due works of drainage canal bridge works have commenced in Osmangunj.

Sewage water flooding has been the bane of the place for many years in Osmangunj during every rainfall. Sewage water inundates the place up to 3-4 feet and entire market will reek of nauseating smell. Even at the Begum Bazar police station outpost, the entire ground floor will be under a sheet of sewerage water.

As the plight of people repeated this year too in the first week of July, Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi intervened and ensured that the nala channel works began at last. The entire stretch of Osmangunj road has been closed for the works, starting from Osmania Hospital and till Moazamjahi X Roads.

Recently, Minister Talasani Srinivas Yadav also visited the site and inspected the ongoing drainage canal bridge works and instructed the officials to complete the works on schedule. He noticed several illegal encroachment at Osmangunj and instructed the officers concerned to demolish the structures and widen the nala.

According to the GHMC officials, the works were taken up by Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) and Hyderabad Road Development Corporation Limited (HRDCL) in the first week of July and an amount of Rs 2.55 crore was sanctioned for the worksw. The works were started around 20 days back and would be completed in a month, they said. The pillars were constructed and the canal works are in progress and after the Minister instruction some illegal encroachments were also removed.

Due to the works, the traffic has been diverted.

"For at least 15 years, sewage overflow has been the major issue in Osmangunj. Whenever it rains, the entire market will be in water and onion, ginger, garlic and other items would be damaged, causing major losses to traders," said Mohammed Hamed, a shop owner in Osmangunj. In monsoon the shopkeepers in market start using tables and stands to save their items from stagnant water. "Now that the works were started, we hope there would be no overflow and water stagnation," he added.