HYDERABAD: Ayyappa Colony, a lower middle-class settlement near the Geological Survey of India in Bandlaguda, is slowly turning into a ghost colony.

Half of the residents here have already packed their bags, locked their homes and moved into temporary shelters elsewhere. Several others can be seen huddled on the terraces of their homes and pondering over what to do.

The reason: Nearly 100 of 250-odd houses in this colony, situated a few kilometres away from the Uppal-L.B. Nagar road, are partially submerged in water. And the water is not just that which overflows from the nearby Bandlaguda Cheruvu after the recent rains.

Dark green, stinking sewage from surrounding colonies have been given a channel into the Bandlaguda Cheruvu from last year, and with the recent rains chipping in, the residents found the mucky water seeping first into their courtyards, then slowly into their homes and finally, inundating the entire colony.

Still, a majority of the colony remains partially submerged, says G. Sridhar, one of the residents.

Health hazard

A little open space with a concrete road passing through in the middle of the colony is where a herd of buffaloes now laze around in waist-high water. Not surprisingly, mosquitoes have already set up camp and buzz around menacingly even at noon. "Drainage from colonies in Vanasthalipuram, Mansoorabad, the Sahara Township and Nagole among others are now routed into this Cheruvu. That's why this has happened all of a sudden. Otherwise, this has not happened in the last 20 years. Officials from L.B. Nagar Municipality came, saw and left," fumes Mr. Sridhar.

"This is a HUDA-approved layoutand Government gave us pattas long back. Still, we are treated as outcasts," says Bhagyam, who has the backyard of her house submerged. "Snakes, rats, snails, mosquitoes, we have new company these days," she adds dryly.

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