Monsoon emergency no. fails to respond to city residents’ woes

Hyderabad: Despite people raising concerns about clearing water-logged areas and deploying the monsoon emergency team, the emergency number provided by municipalities like Nizampet Municipal Corporation and Jawahar Nagar Municipal Corporation has been unresponsive during recent downpours, resulting in unresolved issues.

Local residents have pointed out that despite instructions from the Principal Secretary of the MA and UD Department to form Disaster Emergency Teams for 2024-2025 within municipal limits to address issues like waterlogging, electricity failures, and fallen trees during heavy rains, these teams were not visible or responsive during Monday evening's downpour in Nizampet and Bachupally areas. This raised concerns as waterlogging and tree falls persisted without timely assistance. Despite raising concerns with the relevant officials about clearing waterlogging and the absence of the monsoon team, many locals took it upon themselves to guide commuters through the affected areas.

"These teams must be available as scheduled, and prompt response is crucial whenever problems are identified or reported. However, in Nizampet, nothing seems to function effectively. Every monsoon, we endure considerable hardships. Often, emergency numbers are unreachable, and even when reachable, officials fail to respond promptly or rectify reported issues. We encountered a similar issue during the recent rains. Despite notifying the Commissioner of the Nizampet Municipal Corporation about a power outage, it remained unresolved for nearly 12 hours before power was finally restored,” said Sai Teja, a local of Nizampet.

“Every time it rains, we encounter waterlogging near Pragathi Nagar, leading to significant traffic congestion. On Monday evening, local residents had to step in to manage traffic and assist people. Immediate action by the Nizampet Municipal authorities to address the waterlogging issue during rainfall would greatly improve the situation,” said B Srinivas, a local of Bachupally, and the same was stated by Sandeep, a resident of Jawahar Nagar.