To read stories submitted by other TOI Citizen

Reporters turn to Page 4Search for

‘TOI Citizen Reporter’ on Google Play/App Store

Install the app on your phone

Register yourself

Upload content and become a TOI Citizen Reporter

DOWNLOAD APP ON GOOGLE PLAY/APP

Step 1 Step 2 Step 3 Step 4

TIMES CITY4

THE TIMES OF INDIA, HYDERABAD | TUESDAY, MAY 30, 2017

Hyderabad: Here’s finallysome good news for Hyderaba-dis. Respite from the swelter-ing heat may be just around thecorner with the much-awaitedsouthwest monsoon expectedto hit Telangana earlier thanpredicted this year, say offi-cials of the Indian Meteorolog-ical Department’s (IMD’s)Hyderabad centre.

Thanks to the presence of acyclonic circulation in the Bayof Bengal, called Cyclone Mo-ra, which is currently hover-ing over the east central Bay ofBengal, the conditions are fa-vourable for southwest mon-soon to advance onto the westcentral Bay of Bengal over thenext 24 hours, said Met experts.

Under its influence, offi-cials said, the pre-monsoon ac-tivity, which is being witnessedover the state, would subsideand make way for the south-west monsoon during the ini-tial days of June.

“Though, typically, pre-monsoon activity goes on tillJune 10 in Telangana, this yearit is expected to subside earlierthan previous years to makeway for an early onset of south-west monsoon,” said Dr Y KReddy, director (in-charge),IMD Hyderabad.

“The actual date for the on-set of the southwest monsoonis calculated once the monsoonreaches the Kerala coast. But,owing to the cyclonic circula-tion, the dates have advancedand we predict that the rainsmight reach the Kerala coastby May 30,” Reddy explained.

The IMD head office at Del-hi too has predicted that condi-tions are becoming favourablefor the further advance of thesouthwest monsoon and its set-ting in over Kerala and parts ofnortheastern states aroundMay 30-31.

According to privateweather forecasters like Sky-met, northeastern parts of thecountry would be the first towitness heavy to very heavyrainfall under the influence ofCyclone Mora. “In the wake ofthis tropical storm, the mon-soon is likely to progress fur-ther over Kerala and parts ofthe northeastern states duringthe next 24-48 hours. This im-plies that the monsoon wouldreach Hyderabad city no laterthan the second week of June,”said Mahesh Palawat, chiefmeteorologist, Skymet.

He also hinted that thisyear’s monsoon could be a re-peat of last year’s deluge. In2016, the city received an as-tounding 72.54cm of rainfall,as against the seasonal normalof 58.86cm. The torrentialrains ensured that the city re-ceived a 23% surplus for thesouthwest monsoon.

Pre-Monsoon Showers UsuallyGo On Till June 10 In State, ButThis Yr They’ll Subside Earlier

City may sing rain tune sooner than expected

Siddharth.Tadepalli@timesgroup.com

CITY PREPAREDNESS TO BE TESTED

WATER-LOGGING POINTS

234Identified by GHMC

40 Those that have been fixed

PREDICTION OF ONSETOVER THE YEARS

GHMC ACTION PLANMobile monsoon teams

East zone 3South zone 6Central zone 5West zone 4North zone 12

CENTRAL EMERGENCY TEAMS East zone 1South zone 6Central zone 12West zone: None

North zone: None

Drainage system in the city is old and can handle only 40mm of water per hour. But torrential rainfall the

city has been receiving shows that the intake level has to be much higherM Shashidhar Reddy | FORMER VICE-CHAIRPERSON, NDMA

We have deployed central emergency teams that will deal

with uprooted trees, tangled wires and other civic issues along with the mon-

soon teams. All the teams will work around

the clockShanker M | DEPUTY CHIEF ENGINEER

(MAINTENANCE, HOUSING AND

ADMINISTRATION), GHMC

LAST YEAR’S DELUGE 2016

72.54cm Normal

58.86cm

Year Actual date Forecast

2012 June 5 June 1

2013 June 1 June 3

2014 June 6 June 5

2015 June 5 May 30

2016 June 8 June 7

Hyderabad: Almost a year af-ter the city found itself reelingunder the wrath of the raingods, the Greater HyderabadMunicipal Corporation(GHMC) does not seem to havelearnt any lessons.

Though the 2016 monsoonsturned out to be a nightmare forthe city’s residents, forcingthem to keep off the roads andstay on higher grounds to evaderising water levels, the city ishardly any better equipped totackle heavy rainfall. Expertssaid that the GHMC may havedrawn up a monsoon actionplan, but it is a long-haul beforethe city can be called rain proof.

As per the monsoon actionplan 2017, GHMC is meant tocomplete de-silting of nalas(like Kukatpally nala, Begum-pet nala, Balkampet nala), dem-olition or restoration of dilapi-dated structures and potholefilling. Observers pointed outthat apart from filling the pot-holes on the city’s roads, theGHMC has not taken up anyother works as per its plan.

“The drains and naalasneed to be de-silted or else therain water might begin to gushout on the roads and into resi-dences like last year. The drain-age system in the city is old andcan handle only 40 mm of waterper hour. But, the torrentialrainfall the city has been re-ceiving shows that the intakelevel has to be much higher,”said M Shashidhar Reddy, for-mer vice-chairperson of theNational Disaster Manage-ment Authority.

He said that the GHMC hadearlier said it would place rain-gauges across its limits to getreal-time information aboutheavy rainfall . “There are norain gauges within the GHMClimits,” he alleged.

No lessons learnt, manynalas yet to be desilted

‘STRUCTURAL’ PROBLEM842Properties to be served notices

by GHMC. They are ‘critical’ bottlenecks restricting free flow of sewage into storm water drains

70%Of these buildings have not taken up

any repair works

400Dilapidatedstructures, living

or working in which could prove dangerous

1,800 Buildings identified as vulnerable last year

Continuous meetings are being held at the zonal-level to educate building

owners. In the meetings, some of the building owners have been instructed to renovate their buildings before the onset of monsoonDevender Reddy | chief city planner

Hyderabad: With the south-west monsoon just days away,the Greater Hyderabad Mu-nicipal Corporation (GHMC)is gearing up with plans to de-ploy over 140 monsoon actionteams at an estimated expen-diture of `̀1,569.73 lakh. What’smore, the civic body is all set tomonitor these teams online.

Of the total 140 teams thatthe civic body has set up, 91aremini mobile emergency mon-soon teams, 30 monsoon emer-gency teams and 19 centralemergency teams.

While the mini monsoonteams will clear stagnant wa-ter as an immediate measure,the monsoon emergencyteams will deal with major wa-ter logging points and attendto the grievances of residentsduring the monsoon, GHMCofficials said, adding that themonsoon emergency teamswill be equipped with power

saws, vehicles and machineryto pump out water.

While the GHMC has iden-tified 234 water logging points,only 40 of these have beenfixed. Civic officials said, thewater-logging points havebeen categorised into threecategories -- critical water log-ging points (which need im-mediate attention), major wa-ter-logging points (where thewater-logging is high but theproblem is not as severe as thecritical points) and minor wa-ter-logging points (where thewater stagnation is less ascompared to the previoustwo).

“A meeting will be held to-day regarding the monsoonaction plan, after which wewill serve the notices to own-ers of buildings. We will beable to pull down the bottle-necks before monsoons asmost of them are temporarystructures,” GHMC chief cityplanner (CCP) S DevenderReddy said.

Monsoon teams tocost state `̀1,569L

Nabinder.Bommala@timesgroup.com

For the next two-three daysmeteorologists predict a lull

in rainfall activity over the cityand the state, since the CycloneMora is pulling the moistureladen air from the southernpeninsula towards itself. “Overthe next three days, therewould be very little rainfall overHyderabad. But, since themonsoon is advancing at afaster rate, we can say that themonsoon activity would beginover the city sooner than theprevious years,” MaheshPalawat, chief meteorologist,Skymet said. He pointed outthat the city’s rainfall is heavilydependent on the cycloniccirculations travelling over theBay of Bengal. He also said thatowing to the change in windpatterns, once cyclone blowsover, there are chances the citymight receive good rains. TNN

Lull in rainfall overnext three days TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Ramoorthy P