While official mechanism is busy in finding a solution to the Osman Nagar deluge issue, the houses submerged in the flood water since over a year are now on the verge of collapse as torrential rains are continued and predicted more in the days to come.
With the issue worsening every moving day, the crestfallen families of Osman Nagar area near Burhankhan Lake under Jalpally municipality see no light at the end of the tunnel as hundreds of houses are remained inundated while the officials too are in quandary as they also find the issue a perplexing riddle to resolve.
While the houses were moderately submerged since October 2020 when the Osman Nagar area first received a flood fury, the fresh spell of showers from almost a week has raised a concern about the survival of already submerged houses and people are now feared that the structures may not last a longer if the rains continue to hit the ground.
“The basement of the houses was submerged and the walls too were soaked under water for over a year now making these structures completely fragile and vulnerable of any mishap. Though some of the families are still living in their semi-submerged houses, the number of other families has already shifted to some nearby places in rented accommodations,” Syed Yusuf Patel, Spokesperson to Vice Chairperson Jalpally Municipality.
As per the statistics provided by the Irrigation officials, the Burhankhan Lake spreads over an area of 78.231 acres equivalent to 3107.150 meters encompassing several areas covering two municipalities such as Jalpally and Badangpet. While one side of the lake comes under Jalpally municipality, the part of other side covers the Badangpet municipality.
The officials say that around 350 houses remained inundated under the knee deep water in the area and consistent rains only aggravating the situation as water level is surging every moving day. The deluge, caused by last years’ flood also left the officials between the devil and the deep blue sea as varying parties affected on both the sides of the lake approached the court for relief.
The flood affected area – where the houses were inundated, covers two densely populated wards such as ward No.3 and 7 of Jalpally Municipality coincidently represented by both the alliance partners such as TRS and AIMIM. While Ward No. 3 represented by MIM, the Ward No. 7 led by TRS party.
Meanwhile, to ascertain the present situation given the consistent rain in the area, teams of senior officials from both the municipalities have visited Venkatapur Lake bund twice in the last 24 hours and taken stock of the area.
Also, the Regional Director Municipal Administration and Urban Development (MOUD) Srinivas Reddy today visited the lake along with Commissioner Jalpally Municipality G.P.Kumar, Commissioner Badangpet Municipality Krishna Mohan Reddy, MRO Balapur Srinivas Reddy, Deputy Engineer Vishveshwar Rao, Deputy Engineer (Irrigation Wing) Jagdish and discuss the issue in length. Circle Inspector Balapur Bhaskar was also present on the occasion.
Spread over an area of 30 square kilometers with a mixed population of around 80,374 (as per 2011 census), the Jalpally municipality was formed in the year 2016 merging the areas such as Jallapally, Balapur, Kottapet and Pahadi Shareef. The densely populated municipality was divided into a total 28 wards that provide abode to around 23,961 families.
The officials, while going into huddle for a better solution, have planned to put in place more measures that can help them to unwind the perplexing riddle and provide a long lasting relief to the people.
