Monsoon blues: At last, GHMC barricades pits

The pits that were drilled to clear clogged storm water drains at Nala Bazaar and General Bazaar, near Bata Junction, on RP Road were finally barricaded on Friday night, almost a day after a labourer was swept away to death. Residents of the locality, who are yet to come out of the shock, complain about the negligence on the part of the authorities.

Four major pits, three on Nala Bazaar and another on the General Bazaar Road that were dug up, remained open posing a risk to many lives till Friday night. On Saturday morning, Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) workers got back to work clearing the garbage from inside the drains. The pits cover almost half the width of the Nala Bazaar road thus hindering any form of vehicular transport. Also, the open pits pose a threat to both pedestrians and motorists. “It has not been raining for the last couple of days, otherwise the danger from open pits would have caused more casualties,” said Balakrishna, who runs a flower decoration business. “A few days prior to the accident, an old man had fallen into the nala at night and was rescued the next morning by the locals, “ he recollected.

On the General Bazaar road, a bigger pit was dug and it turned a big nuisance for traffic. “The ‘tiffin bandis’ and the bikes parked on the road are making the traffic more chaotic. Also, the stench from the drains has made it difficult to live here,” said Narsing Rao, a resident of General Bazaar.

“Work were progressing for two days prior to the accident. We had asked the workers to tie themselves up to a pole using a rope considering the risk involved. On the day of the accident, they took things lightly,” said Raju, who runs a pan shop at Nala Bazaar adding that the contractor had arranged no precautionary measures. “We gave them ropes brought from nearby shops,” he added.

Krishna, an eyewitness, felt that the incident could have been avoided had the authorities used an excavator to dig a big hole and remove the garbage. The contractor was trying to save money without taking precautionary measures. When contacted, GHMC chief engineer K Suresh Kumar said that there were storm water drains in the city on a stretch of 700 km. All pre-monsoon inspections and desilting activities were conducted regularly, he said passing the buck onto the contractor for negligence.