Jalpally civic body braces for rescue ops with boats, life jackets

Jalpally: As part of the precautionary measures to deal with any eventuality in the wake of fresh floods this year, the Jalpally Municipality has equipped itself with advanced maritime apparatus like 'inflatable boats' and 'life jackets' to carry out rescue operation in its flood prone areas especially the Osman Nagar that was severely hit by last year's deluge.

With an outlay of Rs 4 lakhs, the municipality has purchased two inflatable boats and fourteen life jackets, both for adults and children, from a Mumbai-based company to carry out rescue operations in municipality jurisdiction if the flood-like situation convulses again this year.

It is against this background that the Commissioner Jalpally Municipality GP Kumar along with Chairman Abdallah Sadi on Wednesday visited Osman Nagar Lake and took stock of the situation of surrounding areas.

"We have purchased 2 inflatable boats and 14 life jackets as precautionary measures to carry out rescue operations in areas that are vulnerable to floods. These maritime apparatuses will reach Jalpally in one or two days as we have already done the payment," said GP Kumar, Commissioner Jalpally Municipality.

He further explained, last time, we managed to get help with maritime apparatus from NDRF and the Tourism Department only after two days, and by that time many of the colonies were completely submerged.

Going through the formative experience of last year's deluge, we have planned an idea to purchase the above-said rescue gears as a precautionary measure that may be of great help if the flood-like situation convulses again.

We have already laid a pipeline at Venkatapur area to drain out the stormwater from Osman Nagar Lake and even raised the height of the bund to prevent water from seeping into nearby colonies, this time we prepare well in advance to deal with any eventuality arise out of incessant rains as there were predictions of Meteorological Department of more rains in the days to come.

It is said that Minister of Education P Sabitha Indra Reddy and Collector Rangareddy district Amoy Kumar are overseeing all the measures to prevent any situation that of last year wherein swarming flood in Osman Nagar Lake had gulped down hundreds of houses in the surroundings completely.