MONSOON BLUES: An inundated lane in the Secunderabad Cantonment area . — Photo: K. Gajendran.

HYDERABAD: Inundated roads during monsoon are nothing new to the State capital. But for residents of Secunderabad Cantonment, the season implies more misery than for their fellow citizens in other parts of the twin cities.

Forget proper storm water drainages, there is not even a master plan to build any. Neither is there any sewerage system. Plans for anything similar to that are non-existent. The least Cantonment Board could have done in view of the monsoon was to de-silt `nalas' in its regions. Surprisingly, even when monsoon is ready to strike, proposals for de-silting are yet to be approved by the board.

`Indifferent' attitude?

The nonchalant attitude of the board could appear shocking to those who remember what Cantonment residents suffered during the August 2000 floods. Several water tanks in and around the Cantonment area had breached, low-lying areas were inundated and nalas flooded with excess water from the Hussainsagar lake.

Areas like Boosareddyguda, Kakaguda, Sikh Village, Tawaipura, Peda Thokatta, Chinna Thokatta, Balamrai, Rasoolpura and parts of Marredpally were literally under water. L.I.C. Colony, M.E.S. Colony, Akula Narayana Colony, Vijay Nagar Colony, Railway Colony, Subbarao Colony, Vasavi Colony, Brooke Bond Colony, parts of Vikrampuri, Laxminagar Colony, Bowenpally and Gun Troop Bazaar were a few of those areas that bore the brunt in the absence of storm water drainages.

In spite of all this and after the Municipal Corporation of Hyderabad initiated work on re-modelling its storm water drains and even unplugged over 200 regularly waterlogged points in its jurisdiction, SCB officials are still dawdling in slumber land.

"There have been no efforts to prepare storm water drainage master plans neither are there any to clear large-scale encroachments on nalas," says local social worker J. Umeshwar Rao, a statement acknowledged by officials.

A senior official says de-silting is under consideration while sewerage systems depend on the proposed tie-up with the Metropolitan Water Board."There is no certainty when that will happen," he adds. With nalas in the areas continuing to be dumped with debris and garbage, the situation this year could only be worse. And given SCB's habits, residents could have no option but to suffer for one more season.

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