Rising water level in Musi puts residents in danger

Hyderabad: Withthe water flow rising in the Musi affecting the river catchment areas, residents living along its banks are feeling anxious. They are gearing up to confront the challenging situation in the wake of authorities opening gates of twin reservoirs Osmansagar and Himayatsagar and releasing flood water. The situation has brought traffic to a halt at Moosarambagh, Jiyaguda and Chaderghat bridges. The river passing through the city has been receiving massive inflows from upstream. In order to drain out rainwater, the flood gates of two reservoirs were lifted to release it downstream into the Musi. People residing in low-lying areas on the river banks like Malakpet, Kishanbagh, Jiyaguda, Puranapul, MGBS, Chaderghat, Golnaka have been put on alert. After the gates were lifted on Tuesday, and water flowed into the river authorities closed the Puranapul and Moosarambagh bridges as a precautionary measure. Earlier, the Moosarambagh bridge was closed due to the high inflows into the Musi. The traffic is being stopped accordingly. The traffic police placed barricades to prevent vehicles from entering the bridge at Moosarambagh and Puranapul. Slow-moving traffic was observed at Moosarambagh and Puranapul stretches. The police and civic body authorities are closely monitoring the water levels in the river. Locals says the rising water flow close to the small bridge at Malakpet indicates the risk of flooding in nearby localities. This is worrying the residents. “Once the water levels rise and flow above the bridge it means houses start getting flooded. People here are keeping tabs on water level; for now, it did not touch the bridge,” said Sarwar, who resides near Chaderghat small bridge. According to Malakpet corporator Mohammed Saifuddin Shafi, over 200 families in Moosa Nagar, combined 500 families in Padma Nagar and Shanker Nagar have been put on alert. As a precautionary measure, a community hall and an Islamic school in Malakpet are ready as relief camps. However, as there is no rain on Wednesday, there is no sign of danger as of now,” he said. The SNDP works near the Malakpet’s railway under bridge (RuB) which were completed earlier are said to help ease the earlier choking points. However, the effectiveness of the recent de-silting works prior to the monsoon will be under test as 45 bastis on the southern side face risk on the Azampura side.