Rains take heavy toll on Hyderabad roads
Several black top roads re-carpeted during lockdown severely battered in unprecedented downpour
Hyderabad: Several of the smooth, freshly re-carpeted black top roads that welcomed citizens back onto the roads after the lifting of lockdown were damaged in the unprecedented downpour over the last one week. The heavy rains that lashed city from Sunday to Tuesday took a heavy toll on black top roads that were re-carpeted just a few months ago and left battered and out of shape.
The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC), making good use of the minimal traffic movement during the lockdown, had re-carpeted several roads across the city. But once monsoon began, and especially over the last couple of weeks, the top layers of the roads have been damaged in many areas. And, following the torrential rains in the past two days, all the good work done by the municipal corporation in re-carpeting the roads has been washed away.
The municipal corporation officials are waiting for the water levels to recede to assess the actual damage. Roads in many areas are now full of potholes, and at many places the bitumen layer has been washed away bringing up the gravel and metal.
The road being inundated on one side, driving without knowing where the potholes were was a challenge, says Murali Krishna, an employee pointing to the damaged portion of the Vengalrao Nagar main road. Irrespective of main thoroughfares and colony roads, many stretches across the city have been damaged.
Under the Comprehensive Road Maintenance Programme (CRMP), the municipal corporation had entrusted the road repairs, maintenance and re-carpeting of 709 km in seven packages to private agencies. Of the 709 km, 331 km of road stretches had to be re-carpeted by June this year. A majority of these works were completed, and due to the heavy rains many stretches got damaged severely. As part of the agreement, the agencies will have to take up repair and re-carpeting works, said a senior official from GHMC.
Apart from those being maintained under the CRMP, the municipal corporation had recently commenced repairs of colony roads and other internal roads at a cost of over Rs 52 crore. The municipal corporation had identified 315 stretches covering over 99.51 km across the six zones. All the Zonal Commissioners have been directed to complete all the repair works by November 15 or before. “Now, all these works will be delayed for a few days. We have to wait till normalcy is restored for carrying out the repair works,” said the official.
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