Hyderabad: After nearly 50 days, water from the Osman Nagar area slowly began draining, as civic officials on Wednesday broke open sluice gates to drain out flood water from the submerged colony. Water from the locality, one of the worst affects in the recent floods, did not recede even until now as sluice gates had been blocked by constructions. The colony has come up on the lake bed of the Burhan Cheruvu.
On Wednesday, officials from the Jalpally municipality began breaking opening sluice gates of the Burhan Cheruvu, after which water finally began draining out of the colony, most of which had been submerged in water as high as 10 feet. Osman Nagar was flooded, as houses, including the Indo-American township on one side, have been built in the water body’s full tank level (FTL).
The situation was so grim that state Education Minister Sabitha Indra Reddy also reached the colony, and directed officials to take action after several residents had complained about the flooding. On Wednesday, as officials broke open sluice gates, water finally began gushing out of Osman Nagar/
“Water was blocked in our colony from many days. The lake water from here goes into other lakes nearby. I am 60 years old. We were informed early in the morning that the water is being drained out,” said a resident. As the water was being drained out, an unidentified dead body was also recovered from one of the houses.
“We are cutting open the sluice and draining out the water. The public in this area said that one former Sarpanch named Komaraish had caused all of this about 20 years ago (allowing illegal construction). We have to fix the sluice gates. The American township has also encroached into the tank limits. We will enquire the issue, and submit a report to the government,” said Mohd. Saber Ali, Commissioner, Jalpally municipality.
Moreover, local residents also claimed that civic authorities were only draining out water to help the American Township residents, who have built expensive swanky homes on the lake bed as well. During this rainy season, as showers occurred (especially heavy rains on October 13), the colony, where hundreds of poor people (mostly Muslims) live, was flooded.
While several areas in Hyderabad got flooded earlier this month due to heavy rains and lakes getting breached (and as homes were built in FTLs), Osman Nagar has been the worst hit given the fact that homes were flooded and submerged in water for nearly a month and a half.