Residents of Hyderabad have filed a complaint with the Gachibowli police, stating that Aparna Constructions obstructed the natural flow of water in the area, which resulted in major waterlogging in front of University of Hyderabad (UoH).
The Professor CR Rao road, which connects areas of Gachibowli to Serlingampally, witnessed massive waterlogging earlier this month, as drainage water stood knee-high outside the main gate of UoH.
"There is a drainage nala going from UoH towards Masjid Banda. On the same side, Aparna Constructions And Estates Pvt. Ltd. Is coming up with a new apartment complex. The drain flows through one of the borders of the property. On October 2, after the huge rain, the road in front of UoH was completely waterlogged and vehicles could not move. By seeing this officials inspected the place and found out that the drain was blocked by construction going on in that area and issued notices," the complaint, a copy of which is with TNM, reads.
"The constructors noticed that their cellar was getting flooded due to the rain, and used sand bags to block and divert the water," Ramanjeet Singh, one of the complainants, told TNM.
Officials of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) cleared the drain on October 4, only to realise that the road flooded again on October 6, Ramanjeet alleges.
"Once again, the GHMC went and cleared the drain with the help of the police, and even warned the construction company," Ramanjeet says.
On October 9, following a large amount of rainfall in the area, the police complaint alleges that traffic police were present at the spot till 11.30pm to clear the traffic, after which they left.
"Once they (traffic police) left the place, the workers from Aparna Constructions, dumped sand sacks on to the nala and the water flow was blocked again. The Security personnel from SBI training college are witness of this. This resulted again in the water blocking the CR Rao road in front of University of Hyderabad," the police complaint states.
"After they did it so many times, that it became unbearable, we decided to take action against them and filed the police complaint. The GHMC Zonal Commissioner has written a letter to the company, and they have agreed to lay a drain. However, I do not have much confidence on that," Ramanjeet says.
"We took the step so that people are aware that such a thing is happening, and it puts pressure on the company," he adds.
The police complaint demands action against the company for damaging public property, as the standing water damaged the blacktop roads.
Speaking to TNM, a police officer from the Gachibowli Police Station said, "We have registered a case under Section 432 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), which deals with 'causing inundation or obstruction to public drainage attended with damage'. We will take further action as necessary."
However, the company has denied all allegations.
In a statement, Rakesh Reddy, Director of Aparna Constructions & Estates Pvt Ltd. said, “Aparna Constructions is an environmentally responsible company and works towards building environmentally-friendly apartments. All the Aparna projects including (Aparna Sarovar Grande, the Platinum Rated Green Building Project from IGBC) at Nallagandla have received all the necessary clearances from the governing bodies for the construction.”
“We would like to categorically clarify that there is no natural water canal or nala that passes through our projects and we clear all our building debris responsibly and ethically and would like to reiterate that the debris that’s is being dumped in the area if any is not from our site. The nala that is mentioned in the story is in between SBI and UoH and it’s nothing to do with our site. Also as a civic responsibility we are diverting all the excess water collected at our sites into the water body which helps replenishing the water table of the locality. As part of our corporate responsibility we are also taking up the maintenance and upkeep of the Nallagandla lake,” he added.