Hyderabad: Haseena Begum, a resident of Osman Nagar, has been living in a private school along with her two children and ill husband for the past 17 days after her house got flooded with water on October 13. She is still waiting for the water to drain out from her house. However, the woman and her family may not be homeless as they have been asked to leave the school as it is going to reopen soon.
Her husband Shaik Amjad (40), who suffers from high sugar, mostly lies on the bed now, while Begum takes care of her family. Haseena works as a house help in several houses of Barkas and Mohammed Nagar to survive. Like her, about 300 families from Osman Nagar have become refugees near their own homes due to the recent floods, while others have been stranded and are managing to live in Shaheen Nagar.
With 281 houses still inundated with water as on November 1, it has been more than 20 days since Osman Nagar area was heavily flooded. After the issue was carried by siasat.com and several other media houses, the civic authority created a channel to drain water from the nearby Shukursagar lake that flooded hundreds of houses in Shaheen Nagar, Osman Nagar, Saif Colony and Renukapur.
Residents of Osman Nagar who now have no option left but to live in nearby areas, and in government or private schools, now face an existential crisis. Owing to this situation, the Human Rights Forum (HRF) has demanded that government officials drain out water within 24 hours if not the forum is going to stage a protest at chief minister K. Chandrasekhar’s office and also near the concerned MLA’s house.
Water to be drained from Osman Nagar
“The water from the lake is draining but it is too slow. Two days back the channel was created but only one feet of water has been drained out. It is like taking water out of a sump with a mug,” said Syed Abdul Rauf, a resident of Osman Nagar who daily sits near the inundated area while waiting for the water to drain.
Residents alleged that water was being let out from one side of the lake and was just to benefit one colony that is built on the other side of the lake near Renukapur village. Osman Nagar in Hyderabad has been the worst hit by the October floods, as water is still as high as six feet in places. Even now residents are using boats to reach out to other people who are staying on the second floor or third floor of their homes.
Thought Maheshwaram constituency Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) and state minister Sabitha Indra Reddy along with Jalpally Municipality officials inspected the area and opened sluice gates of the Burhan Cheruvu near the Indo-American Township at Venkatapuram, it didn’t work as houses in Osman Nagar area are inundated and locked.
According to the other resident, Shafaqat Ba Hamid, the gates which were opened were later closed with a fear that agricultural land nearby in the area may also get flooded. “We have no house to live in and there are no relief camps in this area,” says Shafaqat.
Residents living on roads in temporary shades like near shops and hotels or even near someone else’s house. FLooded homes have also become breeding ground for mosquitoes. Earlier a decomposed body was also found in Osman Nagar when water was being drained out.