Hyderabad: With River Godavari water reaching Kondapochamma, all efforts are being made to get the water to Hyderabad and synchronize with River Musi and transform it into a clean and pristine river.
The idea is to divert Godavari water to Osman Sagar from Kondapochamma and eventually fresh water will be pumped into River Musi. Apart from cleansing Musi by pumping Godavari water, plans are being made to make it a new tourist destination.
There are plans to organize cruise rides from Bapughat to Nagole in Musi and all these works are to be executed with a cost of over Rs 5000 crore. Under this initiative, the State Government has constituted the Musi River Front Development Corporation.
Setting up fencing on either side of the river banks and facilitating the flow of murky water in the canal is part of the long term plans. Besides, 59 Sewerage Treatment Plants (STPs) are being planned in the catchment areas of Musi to ensure the flow of treated water into the river course.
Plans are also being made to divert Godavari water to the twin reservoirs of Osman Sagar and Himayath Sagar.
Stormwater drain
Laying emphasis on strengthening the existing stormwater drain network, which can handle only 2 cm rainfall per hour, efforts are on to develop a stormwater drain network, which can handle 30-40 cm rainfall.
Due to the lack of an efficient stormwater drain network during heavy rains, water overflows on the roads and floods colonies. Past governments had not paid attention to this problem but the Telangana government has constituted the Strategic Nala Development Programme to address such issues.
To avoid flooding of colonies, the government has prepared nala development plans with a whopping cost of Rs 12,000 crore.
In tune with the provision of sufficient drinking water, the focus is also being laid on sewage and its treatment. Towards this, a comprehensive Sewerage Master Plan has been prepared and efforts are on to develop an extensive sewerage network covering the villages within Outer Ring Road (ORR), besides setting up STPs. A staggering Rs 13,000 crore budget is required to execute these works.