The locals of Ameenpur in Hyderabad are upset as water entered their homes earlier this week, when heavy rains lashed the city. The streets outside their homes also saw water rise up to their knees, which stagnated for close to two days before receding.
Annaji, a resident of Durga Province says, "Water entered our homes. As the rain stops each time, the water enters our streets first and then starts rising and entering our homes. If we break a wall or try some mitigation, it overflows into the neighbouring communities."
Locals say that there are three residential communities in the area; Durga Province, Akshaya Homes and Lakshmi Nivas, which get flooded during the rains.
Though within the confines of the city's Outer Ring Road (ORR), Ameenpur is a Grade 1 municipality, and is excluded from the jurisdiction of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC). Until last year, it was only a gram panchayat.
"The area of Ameenpur is only developing from the last 3 to 4 years, and everyone has started buying homes here, but the civic bodies have been unable to keep up, especially with regard to increasing the width of the drainage system," says one local, who did not wish to be named.
"We have gone to the municipal office many times and asked officials to visit our place. They have visited, but there is no proper plan or a longer solution," he adds.
Locals also complain of lack of coordination between village politicians and the newly-formed municipality officials.
Speaking to TNM, Ameenpur municipal commissioner P Vemana Reddy said that they had taken stock of the situation, and attributed the flooding to the lack of an outlet for storm water. "Water from Pedda Cheruvu, a lake upstream, flows into another lake downstream and the colonies are built on the way," he says.
While authorities had diverted the flow of water between the two lakes, Vemana said that during heavy rainfall, the water tries to flow down through gravity in its natural path.
"When it was a gram panchayat, there was much lesser regulation and more political interference. As a result, many unauthorized plots were sold and later regularized," a source in the municipality said.
Will integration into the GHMC help?
This is not the first time that the residents of Ameenpur have been troubled by civic issues. The area is notorious for its narrow and broken roads, with no streetlights, and constant water logging.
Ahead of the polls last year, the Ameenpur Joint Ventures Association even held a 'no road, no vote' protest. Despite this, not much has changed, they say. Many locals demand that integration into the GHMC may help them.
"If they bring it under the GHMC, then we will have strict rules related to construction. The approvals are much more stringent then. At least the rain water problem will go. It can't flood our homes each time it rains," Annaji says.
"We hoped a lot when we started living here, but the government comes here only two times. First is to give voter ID cards and the second time is to collect the municipality bills," he adds.
Asked if the government would consider such a proposal, the source in the municipality said, "No matter whose jurisdiction the residents come under, at the end of the day, it is about implementation of the law. Many times, there is a builder-politician nexus and there is pressure on officials, whether its the GHMC or a municipality."