Hyderabad needs a disaster management plan

Heavy rains that lashed Telangana last week have left a trail of devastation. Hyderabad City was literally battered by frequent downpours induced by low pressure area over Bay of Bengal. It was as if the skies had opened up for days to make up for the 3-week dry spell during August. The flooding in some areas of GHMC and outgrowth settlements came as a grim reminder of the unprecedented Musi floods of 1908 and the recent floods in August 2000.
Rains in this part of the State, particularly during peak monsoon months of August and September, have been known to play havoc. Prior to the great Musi deluge of 1908, the city was ravaged by furious floods 18 times earlier. Musi floods on 28th September 1908 were caused by torrential rains in a single day and resulted in the death of over 15,000 people. About 80,000 people were rendered homeless and six lakh people were affected in Hyderabad and adjoining districts. The entire city was devastated.
Again, the city was flooded due to heavy rains on 1st August 1954. Some city areas were inundated on 18th September 1962. Afzalsagar breached and many localities in the city were flooded and 20,000 people rendered homeless on 21st/22nd September 1970. The twin cities were devastated by flash floods on 23rd/ 24th August 2000 and people had to be rescued by deploying 10 boats and three helicopters in the areas around Hussainsagar lake. At that time, 356 low-lying bastis were submerged, 35,000 people were evacuated to safer places and 26 persons died due to house and wall collapses and drowning. Flash floods inundated some areas after heavy rains in 9th/10th August 2008 also.
After the floods of 1908, the Sixth Nizam of Hyderabad, Mahbub Ali Pasha, invited renowned urban planner and engineer Sir Mokshgundam Visvesvarayya from neighbouring Mysore State to prepare a plan for reconstruction of the city and for preventing floods in Musi River. Sir Visvesvarayya submitted his report on 1st October 1909 with recommendations on preventing recurrence of floods and for improving civic amenities. Mahbub Ali Pasha passed away in 1911 and the seventh Nizam, Mir Osman Ali Khan, implemented the plan and built two reservoirs over Musi and Esi rivers. Osmansagar was completed in 1920 and Himayatsagar in 1927.
New government offices were built and construction of housing units was taken up on a massive scale with the formation of City Improvement Board. New housing colonies were built, alongwith hospitals, colleges, markets, and other civic infrastructure. Pathergatti, Moazam Jahi Market, High Court, Osmania Hospital, Osmania University and other magnificent buildings were constructed. A drainage network, comprising storm water drains and nalas, was built. Water supply lines were laid and service reservoirs were constructed during this time.
In sharp contrast to this massive reconstruction and disaster control effort undertaken by the erstwhile Nizam, our rulers in undivided AP virtually left us in the lurch after the successive floods in the city in 1962, 1970, 2000 and 2008. The then Congress rulers were busy dousing the fires of 1969 Telangana agitation and they had little time to come up with a flood control plan for the State capital after the 1970 floods. The then TDP chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu sought to take steps in the wake of August 2000 floods. He appointed a study committee and entrusted the work to Kirloskar consultants.
The Kirloskar committee submitted a detailed report to the Government. The storm water drains, constructed during the Nizam's era, were planned for a population of five lakh and municipal area of 54 sq kms. But today, the GHMC comprises an area of 625 sq kms with population of almost 80 lakhs. Alongwith the outgrowths, Greater Hyderabad is spread over 1,000 sq kms with a population of one crore now. Most of the new settlements and colonies outside the core area of Hyderabad (Old Municipal Corporation area) and on the peripheries are living examples of unplanned urban growth and unregulated planning control.
The Kirloskar Committee report, the City Development Plan report prepared by erstwhile MCH, the Voyants Consultancy's detailed project report on remodeling and widening of nalas in GHMC area and umpteen other studies and surveys are gathering dust. Works on improvement to four major nalas in the city were taken up with JNNURM funds in 2006. These works are far from complete.
In the meantime, the cost of nala modernization has escalated from Rs 6,200 crore to Rs 10,000 crore now. Encroachments on nalas have multiplied to 28,000 now. The key issue is how the GHMC would raise and repay massive outlays required for nala works, leave along other civic amenities.
(The author is an MLC and also a journalist)