SECUNDERABAD: Seven-year-old Anand Sai died after he fell into an open nala in Bowenpally’s Bhavana Colony on June 5. Mekala Ramesh (31) was swept away after he fell into a nala at an under construction bridge on Bowenpally main road in August 2016. Are nalas in Secunderabad Cantonment death traps? Residents say in affirmative.
And five years after Ramesh’s untimely demise and a month after Sai’s tragic death, very little has changed as open nalas continue to pose threat to residents. “We have been residing here for more than three decades. We spend sleepless nights during every monsoon and live with overflowing nalas, inundation of colonies and battered roads,” residents of Indirammanagar, Chandrababu Naidu Nagar and Sri Lanka Basthi told TOI.
Existing nalas like Hasmathpet nala and Picket nala, which cover over 50 residential colonies, were constructed during pre-Independence era and no major facelift was given to them despite population and colonies having doubled in the last 20 years. Several pleas of residents to repair the nalas have fallen on the deaf years of Secunderabad Cantonment Board (SCB) officials.
Various residential welfare associations in the Cantonment allege that nalas pose danger to their lives and recall that they had lost property worth crores in 2020 floods. “Yet, the officials have not undertaken repairs,” said a resident of Royal Enclave.
Voicing concern, residents of Radhika Colony in West Marredpally urged the Cantonment Board to resolve the nala problem. “We do not want a repeat of 2020 flooding because of overflowing nalas,” PC Suresh, a resident of Radhika Colony, said.
Officials, however, said steps have been taken to address residents’ concerns. To ensure free flow of nalas, the Cantonment Board spent Rs 50 lakh on cleaning them. “Our engineering wing took up a special drive by demolishing as many as 70 unauthorised structures built on open nalas. In some areas, nalas have shrunk because of garbage and encroachment,” said SCB senior superintendent (solid waste management), M Devender. SCB CEO B Ajith Reddy told TOI they have approached the MA&UD department to include the SCB in the Strategic Nala Development Plan to refurbish and widen the existing nalas. “Civil works like raising retaining walls, building culverts and widening the nalas were taken up in view of the last year’s flood,” he said.
