Two months after the city was wrecked by torrential rains and destructive floods, no attempts are visible on the ground to carry out repairs to the embankments on open drains and Musi river.
Floods to the Musi had swept away the safety railings on the causeway bridges at Chaderghat and Moosrambagh, in mid-October.
In place of the railings, wooden stakes were driven on both sides along the Chaderghat bridge, as temporary safety measure. The same arrangement has continued till date, with no effort to install new railings.
On Moosarambagh though, temporary repairs were carried out, with a net fixed to metal poles, which anyway cannot act as crash barrier.
Hundreds of vehicles commute on the bridges till very late in the night every day, and lack of safety railings could prove to be fatal in case of accidents, say the residents.
“There is grave danger to vehicle-riders, especially during nights. Also, children and senior citizens from areas such as Shankarnagar, Padma Colony and Moosa Nagar could fall into the river if not careful,” says Syed Bilal, a resident of Chaderghat.
At places such as Chaitanyapuri and Saroornagar, retaining walls on the open storm water drain have collapsed, and the same arrangement with temporary wooden stakes was made here too.
“The retaining walls on the nala on both sides of the road were broken to facilitate flood flow from the Saroornagar lake, which had inundated the highway on October 14. Till now, there is no attempt to rebuild them, though they posed grave risk,” said Narayana Swamy, a resident of Chaitanyapuri.
An octagenarian woman fell into the nala and died near Seesala basti close to Saroornagar lake early in November, where the retaining wall had collapsed on the swirling waters. Her body was recovered from the drain at Hanuman Nagar later in the day. No attempts were made to erect a retaining wall on the nala even after the incident.
GHMC officials said estimates have been prepared for reconstruction of the retaining walls, and tenders are yet to be called for, for want of clarity on which wing should take up the works.
“The government has constituted a separate wing within GHMC for implementation of Strategic Nala Development Programme. We have sought clarity on which wing should take up the works for building retaining walls. We will begin the works as soon as the clarity is given,” informed an official on condition of anonymity.
