City nalas choke as GHMC misses clean-up deadline

HYDERABAD: The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) has promised to desilt and clean 800 km of stormwater drains and nalas by June 7 ahead of the monsoon, but work is only half complete, going by what senior GHMC officials have to say.
“We got 450 km of nalas cleaned and work at several nalas and stormwater drains is still going on,” a senior official said. Stormwater drains near Tank Bund Road (near Marriott Hotel), Banjara Hills Road No. 1 (near pension office) and opposite GHMC head office (Himayathnagar street No. 1) are some of the examples where GHMC’s shoddy work was clearly exposed.
Civic body workers left the silt near the nalas for more than five days and the silt was falling back into the nalas during downpour. The stormwater drain near Tank Bund Road was filled with garbage blocking free flow of water. “The purpose of desilting is to ensure free water flow so that inundation is avoided during monsoon,” a civic management expert pointed out.
At Banjara Hills nala, the walls at three points were pulled down for the nala cleaning machine to enter it, but the drain was not desilted properly. The silt that was removed was positioned close to the nala and after Sunday night’s rain, made its way back into the drain.
Activists cried foul over what they called a “shoddy job” by GHMC. “It is unfortunate to see that hard-earned money we pay towards property tax is going down the drain. GHMC should ensure that the silt is transported as soon as it is taken out,” said Harish Daga, a civic activist.