Man washed away in Hyderabad lake, second incident in 4 days

Hyderabad(Hyd), September 21 : After a 20-hour-long search, rescue labour on Mon. retrieved the body of a person who has been swept far away in Saroornagar lake here on Sun. in the evening.

Personnel from Domestic Disaster Reaction Enforce (NDRF) pulled out the body of electrician Naveen Kumar (45), who fallen into an overflowing drain & has been washed far away into the lake.

Naveen, who has been on a bike, lost balance & slipped into the drain whose water has been gushing around the street.

The Disaster Relief Enforce of Greater Hyderabad(Hyd) Municipal Corporation (GHMC) had initiated a rescue operation last night however it proved futile. The search operation has been named off about three a.m. & has been resumed after 3 hours with NDRF personnel also joining in.

Police officer said the drain has been overflowing following rains in the past couple of days. The flow of water has been also affected by this encroachments.

This has been the 2nd such incident in Hyderabad(Hyd) in 4 days. A 12-year-old lady awhile riding a bicycle fallen into an open drain in Neredmet on Sep 17. Her body has been recovered from that Banda Cheruvu lake the next day.

With the 2 incidents triggering a people outcry, the state govt declared on Mon. that it’ll cap open drains in this city in a cost of INR 300 cr.

Minister for Municipal Administration & Urban Development (devt) K. T. Rama Rao said that GHMC going to shortly commence capping works to avoid any untoward incidents.

These capping works going to be implemented on drains that are under 2 meters wide. Guidelines were released to authorities to come up with an action schedule to full the works in time.

“Authoritative sanction for INR 300 cr going to be accorded soon to execute the works,” the minister stated.

The minister said that majority of the drains, that are under 2 meters wide, are located in densely populated regions & inquired the authorities to take (2) all this precautions to avoid any untoward incidents.

In drains, that are over 2 meters wide & where the execution of capping works wasn’t feasible, the minister instructed authorities to take (2) up fencing works according to Domestic Green Tribunal & Supreme Court instructions.

In a gathering with top authorities, KTR reviewed the status created by this effect of heavy rains in Hyderabad(Hyd) & different urban regions.

He inquired the authorities to take (2) all required precautions & also step up relief steps where needed.

With extra rains awaited within the next 2 weeks, the minister inquired the Sr. authorities to quash the leaves of all this employees & instructed them to stay put on alert & on the ground. He inquired the authorities to carry out surprise inspections from time to time.

The authorities reported KTR that Hyderabad(Hyd) has got heavy rainfall of 54 Chief Minister within the last 10 days. They also mentioned that such heavy rains lashed the city in some hours leading to waterlogging in low cunning regions.

The minister directed the authorities to identify & demolish the apartments that are on the verge of collapsing. He also inquired the authorities to set up groups within the water logging regions & monitor the status.