Roads under water? Blame it on debris

The scam reported in the desilting of nalas is just the proverbial tip of the iceberg. Contractors tasked with transporting tonnes of concrete debris as part of the pre-monsoon plan in 2016 got their bills cleared in March without quite doing the job.

A senior officer, who did not want to be identified, said, “A scam has been identified in the Central (Khairatabad) Zone where a contractor did not do the job but submitted bills. When an audit was conducted it was found that the contractor did not transport the debris but claimed payment anyway. The bills showed fake vehicle numbers. The issue came to light after officials asked for an inquiry. Frauds like these keep happening in every zone. It is for the zonal commissioners to keep an eye and inspect.”

The cause for inundation across the city during rains is the silt from nalas and the debris on the roads that has not been removed.

Hyderabad sees the generation of 500-1,000 metric tonnes of construction debris per day. Much of this is dumped on the roadside while a large portion of it is flushed into nalas, stormwater drains and lakes.

It is observed that there is no more room to dump debris, which is now being disposed of at the Jawaharnagar dump yard. The problem is vitiated because the contractors assigned to do the job do not clean drains though they claim money from the GHMC. Recently 27 contractors were booked for fake bills on nala desiltation.

In a recent complaint to the GHMC, a Chanchalguda resident, Sarfaraz, wrote that residents of two houses were facing frequent waterlogging during rains because a neighbour who had an ongoing construction project was dumping the debris in the lane.

There are several instances where debris has not been removed, like in Bhoiguda near the park adjascent to Don Bosco Hostel and at new Balajinagar, Meerpet.

A survey in 2016 revealed that 50 per cent of obstructions in canals were caused by construction debris. The canals in the Uppal-Ramanthapur area, Balkapur and along the Afzalsagar nala are the worst-hit.

The contractors assigned for the job do not clean the drains though they claim the money