HYDERABAD: With instances of urban flooding during the pre-monsoon season on the rise, local authorities have decided to take up a study to effectively reduce inundation across the city. The study will be jointly conducted by the
Telangana State Development Planning Society (TSDPS) and the
Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (
GHMC).
Speaking on the sidelines of a workshop,Shaik
Meera, chief executive officer of TSDPS said that the aim of the proposed study is to come up with a cost-effective solution for urban flooding.
“During the pre-monsoon showers that take place before May, a lot of places such as Kukatpally get flooded. We have decided to collaborate with
Kapil Gupta, an urban flooding expert from the Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai to conduct a study in the next few weeks,” said Meera, adding that the recommendations submitted by the
IIT professor will then be implemented by the TSDPS and GHMC. Officials said that urban flooding has emerged as the biggest challenge for GHMC in the last few years as apartments and complexes have been raised, blocking the rainwater flow.
In fact, several residential localities in the western zone experienced heavy flooding during monsoon last year, owing to choked water channels, they said. “While the GHMC will identify spots where maximum inundation takes place, forecast issued by us will help mitigate the impact,” said the TSDPS CEO.
Apart from this, the GHMC is also planning to replicate the Coimbatore model wherein Siruthuli, a volunteering group, increased the collapsing water tables by constructing rainwater harvesting pits across the roads.
Representative image 
