Planners cause human misery

'Itni Dar'ya May Bhi Na Duba Amjad Dub'nay Valo Ko Bus Ek Chul'lu Kafi Hai' (Amjad did not die even in such a mighty river/A palm-ful of water was enough for those drowning)

That was how Amjad Hyderabadi's (a reputed Urdu poet) pain got reflected in his Shayari after he witnessed his mother, wife and daughter perish in the 'Thughyani Sitambar', as the great Musi flood, came to be known as.

The Musi river was the cause of frequent flood devastation of Hyderabad city till early 20th century. It had begun to swell dangerously on September 27 of 1908. The first flood warning came at 2 am when the water flowed over Puranapul bridge. By 6 AM there was a cloudburst.

The flood breached on Tuesday, 28 September 1908: The river rose 60 feet, flowing through the city. In 36 hours, 17 inches of rainfall was recorded, and the water level at Afzalgunj was about 11 feet (3.4 m) high and in other places even higher.

Whom do we blame the misery that the Hyderabadis had to undergo over the last few days? Climate change? Floods? Illegal constructions?
It is strange that a few centimeters of rainfall should bring the life to a standstill in a city aspiring to be a world-class metro.

Including the Chief Minister, K Chandrashekar Rao, everyone is blaming authorities for the mushrooming of the city on all sides with little care or concern of the consequences. Drains and tanks and several big and small water bodies have all been gobbled up by the concrete jungle.

A common refrain during these periods is: "Water has entered our homes. Colonies are flooded.” Has water entered our homes or have we encroached its home? After all, we have filled its 'home' with cement and steel and started living in it. Flooding of cities is nature's way of revenge. Angry with the filth we fill it with, it is just paying us back several times over.

It is not September that curses Hyderabad always though we find the present conditions repeating almost every September if it rains. Hyderabad was not this. It is not the city that it was a 100 years ago. Why did the planners destroy it? Why did not they follow what Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya said and did in the past?

The river Musi passes through the city of Hyderabad and divides it into two parts. On the 28th September 1908, a cyclonic flood of unusual intensity passed through the middle of this city. The rainfall recorded at Shamshabad, one of the principal rain-gauge stations in the catchment area, was 12.8 inches in 24 hours and 18.90 inches in 48 hours. This fall resulted in the most destructive flood that had been witnessed in Hyderabad city for over three-quarters of a century.

The northern bank of the river was on a lower level than the southern one. The river basin above the city abounded in small tanks, there being 788 tanks in a basin of 860 square miles, roughly at the rate of one tank for every square mile of catchment.

The valley of the Musi River which caused this flood consisted of two rainfall basins the Musi proper with a catchment of 285 square miles and the Easi with one of 525 square miles. From the levels marked by the flood, it was calculated that the discharge began with 1,10,000 cusecs and rose to a maximum of 4,25,000 cusecs. In the valleys of these rivers every tank of any consequence gave way. In all 221 tanks are reported to have breached, of which 182 were in the Easi catchment and 39 in the Musi.

It was at this period that the Government of Hyderabad wanted Visvesvaraya to plan a solution while he was on leave preparatory to retirement and travelling in Italy, Visvesvaraya received a letter at Milan from the Under-Secretary, India Office, London, which said the Nizam's Government was anxious to secure his services.

Visvesvaraya agreed with pre-conditions. Accordingly, he would: "Advise and assist in the reconstruction of Hyderabad City; frame proposals for future protection of the city from floods; And prepare a complete scheme of drainage for the Hyderabad City and Chadarghat". On arrival there on 15th April 1909, he began planning flood protection and laying a modern drainage scheme – the latter, he felt, was more important than any.

The flood occurred on Monday, the 28th September 1908, as already stated, reaching its maximum height about an hour before noon. After midnight it developed into a cloud-burst. Rain des- cended in sheets, flooded the small tanks and overburdened their waste weirs. As a result, one tank after another gave way and the flood in the city rose to unprecedented heights, many buildings in the populous quarters being demolished.

In an area known as Kolsawadi, about 2,000 people were stated to have been drowned or washed away, Visvesvaraya records in his memoirs. (The loss of life itself later was recorded at 50,000) It was found that immunity to the city from floods could come only by providing storage room above the city by temporarily impound- ing all floods in excess of what the river channel could carry.

This necessitated the construction of storage reservoirs of adequate capacity above the city. Two reservoir dams were proposed — one across the river Musi and another across its tributary, the Easi. Embankment strengthening and drainage system were must. The storage which was to be impounded on the Musi River was 8,439 million cubic feet and that on the Easi 11,950 million cubic feet, the total storage room as actually estimated being 20,389 million cubic feet.

Hyderabad drainage scheme
Visvesvaraya records: "The river Musi, as stated above, passes through the city and the sewers from both banks emptied into it. The river itself in this way was at times converted into a huge sewer, especially in the hot weather....one might suspect that " mosquito breeding " was one of the industries of the city".

He submitted a City Sewerage Scheme plan on November 6, 1909 and all the slums which had proved a nuisance were brought into the scheme. At the request of the British Resident, a note on the Secunderabad Drainage was furnished to that authority on 4th July 1909.

Before he ceased his connection with the city works, he complied with a request of the authorities in 1930 to supply, he wrote to the Government: "There is much yet to be done, I state, to improve the city. When the improvements suggested are carried out and the city is equipped with clean houses, flush-down lavatories, dustless roads, paved footpaths and a plentiful supply of open spaces, parks and gardens...

Hyderabad would be able to hold her head high among her sister cities in India. Progress, it was stated, would be achieved only if efficient men were put in charge and funds to meet all reasonable demands allotted for expenditure from time to time."

That dream remains unfulfilled and those reports must be getting consumed by moths. Hope KTR reads the last sentence of the report and puts efficient men in charge and meet the expenditure demands. Nizam did it partly and the old city does not get drowned even now. The government need not spend a pie on preparing feasibility reports now.

They are all there lying somewhere in the archives. And don't send any one abroad for a study tour of drainages. All one has to do is read Visvesvaraya who planned for a futuristic city of Hyderabad. By the way what happened to all those 788 tanks now?