GHMC urges people to stay at home

A beleaguered city administration appealed to the people to stay indoors on Tuesday too, even as the State capital was battered by heavy rains. The civic body authorities formed emergency teams, strengthened its control room to take more distress calls, as heavy downpour under the influence of cyclone Gulab hit Hyderabad on Monday.

Urban Development Special Chief Secretary Arvind Kumar alerted people through a tweet. “Advisory: Please avoid any travel on Tuesday  and try and stay indoors please. Our EVDM and GHMC teams are working 24/7 but water-logging and inundation are inevitable especially in low-lying areas due to incessant rains and it’s best to exercise caution,” he tweeted.

On the instructions of Municipal Administration and Urban Development (MA&UD) KT Rama Rao, Arvind Kumar on Monday held a teleconference with all senior department officials. “All officials must stay alert, and take measures to make sure there is no loss of life due to the heavy downpour,” he directed.

Arvind Kumar directed officials to focus on alerting and rehabilitating residents from low-lying areas if needed. “Rehabilitation centres have already been identified and apart from setting up of Annapurna canteens, food



arrangements for such families will be made,” he said.

He instructed officials to clear water-logging, tree branches, damaged electric poles and ensure there are no power outages. “Through Comprehensive Road Maintenance Programme (CRMP) agencies, additional 71 static monsoon teams and 33 mobile monsoon teams have been pressed into service,” said Kumar.

He also said that 237 pumps, two boats for each zone and additional eight Disaster Response Force (DRF) boats, 45 JCBs, 55 machines to cut fallen tree branches are in place. As many as 195 monsoon emergency teams and 139 static labour teams were deployed quickly to solve the issues of water inundation and restore vehicular traffic.

By Monday evening, a total of 312 complaints were received by GHMC control room out of which 297 were resolved while the remaining were under progress. An ox that fell into a water sump at Kapra was also rescued by the Disaster Response Force (DRF) teams with the help of an NGO.

To report grievances to GHMC: 040-2111 1111 or 040-29555500 for disaster response force (DRF) assistance. To rescue stranded stray animals: Animal Warriors Conservation Society: 9697887888.