Hyderabad to conduct Nala Safety Audit

HYDERABAD: The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) will perform a Nala Safety Audit of existing stormwater drains in the Greater Hyderabad limits for the first time. Garbage continues to be poured into the nalas despite the city body’s extensive safety procedures for their construction and upkeep. Miscreants destroy the chain-link meshes that were installed to prevent it and garbage dumped into nalas has also resulted in deaths.

In light of this, the civic body has decided to hire consultants from several GHMC zones to perform a nala safety audit of the existing Social Welfare Department in Greater Hyderabad borders, which will include a walk-through of the whole length of all nalas and drains.

The consultants should also recommend safety precautions to be taken during desilting work, identify vulnerable littering or waste dumping locations and suggest measures to avoid them, and identify locations where untreated sewage water or any industrial waste is mixed into stormwater drain networks, among other things, and recommend measures to avoid them. Conducting field surveys of existing drain networks to ensure that they stay appropriately protected is part of the suggested 90-day plan of action, as is dumping solid waste into the nalas. Despite the city body’s rigorous safety procedures for their construction and upkeep, rubbish continues to be poured into the nalas, clogging them during the rainy season.