GHMC has locked horns with Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply

Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation has locked horns with Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board over damage to roads. The civic body has blamed the water board for having neither restored roads after digging them for laying sewerage lines nor given no objection certificate (NOC) to the corporation to lay fresh roads under preventive periodical maintenance (PPM).

Ramnagar, in the core city, and several areas including Nallagandla in peripheral circles have been the worst affected areas. GHMC claims that it is being blamed for HMWSSB’s negligence.Roads dug up by the water board on a 2,500 km stretch for strengthening the water supply distribution network in peripheral circles were not restored but just land filled. Such temporary arrangements of the water board and civic body have left roads vulnerable to the ravages of flooding. The hastily laid surfaces often crack up or cave in.

Peripheral circles of GHMC, including Serilingampally , Kukatpally, Uppal and Patancheru, are the most affected areas.“We had have dug up a total of 2,500 km of road for strengthening the water supply distribution network in peripheral circles of GHMC and restored 2,100 km under package I. Under package II we have dug up 350 km of road and restored 300 km and are yet to restore a mere 50 km stretch of road,” a water board official claimed. An HMWSSB official said that it is the responsibility of the GHMC to restore roads where pipe lines above 300 mm in diameter are laid.

The corporation says it has not restored roads in Quthbullapur and LB Nagar circles because the water board has said it will dig up the roads very soon in order to give household connections. When asked why NOCs were not submitted to the GHMC, a water board official admitted the delay and said that a couple of NOCs have been issued in the last two days.

A senior GHMC official said that the corporation has been under tremendous pressure from citizens for the bad roads. He said that the corporation has not received a single complaint about main roads but it has received complaints about by-lanes where the water board has dug up roads to lay sewerage and water pipelines under Urban Mission Bhagiratha.

“The GHMC has been taking all the blame for HMWSSB’s negligence. The department (water board) has neither restored the dug up roads nor given an NOC. Complaints have been pouring in from citizens even for roads that fall under their GHMC’s jurisdiction. For instance, if a road is damaged in Attapur, citizens rather than complaining to HRDC (Hyderabad Road Development Corporation) or Roads & Buildings department are criticising the GHMC on social media. Similarly, the corporation has been facing the heat for roads that have to be restored by the water board,” the official added.