HYDRAA, police step in as Hyderabad’s monsoon preparedness comes under scanner

Recent spells of rain have exposed deficiencies in Hyderabad’s monsoon preparedness, prompting intervention by senior police and HYDRAA officials. Civic bodies cite resource limitations and delayed infrastructure works as waterlogging, traffic congestion and rain-related fatalities continue to affect residents.

Hyderabad: Police top brass, right from Commissioner, VC Sajjanar, to Director General, CV Anand stepping into address the monsoon woes for commuters with inspections of the city roads on Saturday night, raising questions about the lack of pre-monsoon preparedness at different levels of the official machinery, mainly the civic bodies.

In the last week, three spells of rain have unfolded miseries for commuters with waterlogged road stretches, traffic jams and travel time stretching to hours. Not just the travails, five lives were lost due to electrocutions, killing four persons.

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Apart from the three civic bodies of Cyberabad Municipal Corporation (CMC), Malkajgiri Municipal Corporation (MMC) and the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC), the other line departments, including HMWSSB, Transco and others, have a responsibility in equipping the city for a safe monsoon.

However, officials of the two newly formed civic bodies of CMC and MMC say they were not in a position to shoulder these responsibilities because of limited resources, as they were established only six months ago. Managing rain-related crises is a new experience for these organisations.

A senior police officer said the reason for police department’s intervention in handling the situation is that traffic and law and order cops are always on duty throughout the city and are the first responders and able to act quickly to divert traffic, place barricades on waterlogged roads, and manage stranded commuters. They ensure that the traffic goes smoothly and prevent a complete gridlock.

The Hydraa has a sufficient staff, and the ‘Disaster Response Force’ (DRF) along with Monsoon Emergency Teams (MET) can act promptly and cover water-logging hot spots, deal with the affected areas, and remove uprooted trees.

A CMC senior engineer admitted that after trifurcation, putting together the information on the stormwater drains network has turned into a difficult task for them. “During the first half of the three months, we were working on it. After that, tenders were called to desilt the nalas and by the time desilting work started, the monsoon arrived,” the official said.

An MMC official conceded the civic body cannot manage the rain-related crisis on its own and would need coordinated action with key departments, including the police and Hydraa.

Several works, including CC roads, stormwater drains, bunds strengthening and safety measures, underground drainage, and other works across CMC and MMC, were initiated only a few weeks before the monsoon. Consequently, these civic authorities are facing major traffic congestion within their respective jurisdictions, further adding to problems linked to rainfall.