The Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (HMWSSB) on Thursday reportedly served a notice to Chutneys restaurant in Banjara Hills. for allegedly pumping rainwater into the city's sewer network.
The Times of India reported that a team of HMWSSB officials, led by General Manager, SR Nagar, M Prabhu, inspected the restaurant, and found that the restuarant's move was causing a manhole in Nagarjuna Circle to overflow on the road.
Several people were facing inconvenience as the circle, situated in Panjagutta, is one of the busiest junctions in the city.
“We found that the restaurant workers used to pump the rainwater stagnating in the cellar through the Water Board sewer network. They were dumping waste as well, choking the manhole. The entire road was inundated with sewerage water,” M Prabhu told TOI.
In February this year, faced with constant overflowing sewage at the junction, authorities excavated the area and found that solid waste had blocked the sewer line.
Stating that they suspected eateries in the area of dumping solid waste in the sewer line, officials replaced a five-meter sewer trunk.
Following this, other manholes along the stretch began to overflow, offering no respite to pedestrians and commuters who used the road.
Since then, Panjagutta continues to be a waterlogging spot everytime rains lash the city.
Even the rains that lashed Hyderabad this week, brought traffic to a complete standstill in the area, even as a part of the road, began getting inundated.
Several employees who travel to the IT hub and Cyberabad every day, also suffered major inconvenience due to this.
According to reports, the journey from Nizampet to Panjagutta which does not take more than 40 minutes, took more than 90 minutes.