Narrow drainage pipes cause waterlogging in Hyderabad's Khairatabad

Traffic was severely impacted as waist-level water was witnessed near the junction on Friday evening.
GHMC to lay new drainage pipes to prevent water-logging
GHMC to lay new drainage pipes to prevent water-logging

At least 15 vehicles remained stranded for several hours along a 1.5-km stretch of road, coming from Taj Krishna hotel in Hyderabad’s Banjara Hills and leading towards the Regional Transport Authority office (RTA) office in Khairatabad, due to heavy rains on Friday evening. As the road is steep, overflowing water from the direction of Banjara Hills inundated the road opposite to the RTA. Waist-level water was witnessed near the junction, severely affecting traffic movement in Khairatabad. Commuters who took the road unknowingly had a nightmarish experience, and in many cases, waded through the water.

While Asifnagar in the city recorded the highest rainfall of 15 cm (very heavy rainfall range) on Friday, Khairatabad received heavy rainfall at 9.4 cm. The waterlogging was so severe that Hyderabad Police Commissioner Anjani Kumar visited the area to monitor the works being carried out to ease the traffic and drain the water.

Speaking to TNM, Ramulu, a security guard employed at North East Plaza said, “All the vehicles coming from Taj Deccan remained stranded due to the water. The water reached till waist-level, making it impossible for the commuters to drive through.” According to Ramulu, this is a recurring scene which never gets resolved. “The road is steep, so naturally, the overflowing water gets accumulated near the junction. This has been happening for several years. Each time there’s heavy rain, the same situation repeats. Authorities aware of it have not taken any steps to address the issue,” he lamented.

Several traffic police personnel were deployed to clear the traffic in Khairatabad. Panjagutta Traffic Station House Officer Ravi said that the situation in Khairatabad worsened as the narrow underground drainage pipes could not take the heavy flow of water, which later overflowed onto the roads. “There is a water line from Taj Krishna till Lake View Guest House area. The water channel from Lake View Guest House leads to Hussain Sagar. But as the width of the underground drainage pipe is very less, they started overflowing,” Ravi said.

According to the SHO, municipal authorities and the police have initiated a plan to replace the narrow pipes with wide ones by next year, to avoid the waterlogging.

Meanwhile, the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) issued a ‘yellow’ alert for Telangana on Saturday. The yellow alert signifies a low risk. The IMD warned that the rainfall would lead to water pooling on roads and low-lying areas besides traffic congestion.  

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