Hyderabad: HYDRAA Commissioner A.V. Ranganath on Thursday carried out a field inspection in Balanagar along with department officials and Congress party leaders. At Vinayaka Nagar Colony, he examined the nala adjacent to a cattle shed plot. Residents expressed anger after finding the approach road to the nala locked with gates.
Ranganath directed the staff to break open the lock immediately. A local named Anand Reddy arrived during the inspection, after which the HYDRAA Commissioner warned against blocking the gate. Officials were told to remove all locks and enter the nala to clear encroachments. Ranganath later reviewed the condition of nalas in Vinayaka Nagar and Kalyan Nagar along with his team.
He told reporters that wherever there is open land next to nalas, encroachments will be cleared on priority. He also highlighted the need to remove illegal stilt structures built inside nalas. A meeting with local residents is planned within a week to address these issues. Officials will document the full length of the nala using drone cameras. He made it clear that encroachments on nalas will not be tolerated under any circumstances.
Ranganath instructed staff to ensure that nalas do not overflow or obstruct flood flows during the monsoon. During the visit to flood-prone locations, he advised officials to take permanent measures to resolve waterlogging. He stated that once nala blockages are cleared, flooding can be largely avoided.
The HYDRAA Commissioner, formally Hyderabad Disaster Response and Assets Monitoring and Protection Agency, also surveyed major nalas and flood zones across the city. He issued on-the-spot orders to remove visible encroachments. According to him, Kukatpally and Jeedimetla nalas pose greater risk than the Musi river during heavy rainfall. Poor flow in these nalas is causing repeated submergence in Bharat Nagar, Moosapet, Balanagar, Jinkalawada, Deendayal Nagar, Vinayak Nagar and Kalyan Nagar, he noted.
In Jeedimetla, the commissioner examined the flood channel coming from Fox Sagar, which had been narrowed by encroachments. The original nala, with a designed width of 22 metres and buffer on both sides totalling 40 metres, has shrunk to 10 metres near residential clusters, leading to flooding in Fateh Nagar and Balanagar bastis. He ordered a drone survey of this entire nala to identify illegal structures for removal, and directed staff to clear silt deposits under the Fox Sagar tank outlet.
In Yapral under Alwal mandal, he inspected Nagireddy Kunta, where a lake spread over 19 acres had been reduced to just 6 acres due to encroachments. He told officials to clear the dumped soil inside the lake. The floodwater channels running from Nagireddy Kunta to Kapra lake were also checked, with obstructions noted at several gated communities, including Golf Pride Homes, Malabar Greens Villas, Haripriya Nagar, Golf View Paradise, and Swarnandhra Phase 01 and 02.
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He instructed that the nala’s width at its origin should be maintained consistently up to its outlet at Kapra lake. A public meeting with colony residents will be called shortly to discuss the original nala routes and steps for their restoration. Following these directions, officials completed flood-prevention nala works at Swarnandhra Phase 01 on Thursday afternoon with HYDRAA support.
