Hyderabad Rains: Army To The Rescue

Responding to the call for help from the Telangana government and the GHMC, the Indian Army on Friday launched rescue and relief operations in several parts of the rain-ravaged city.

The State Government has appointed a three-member co-ordination committee to co-ordinate with the Army. Telangana Municipal Administration Minister K T Rama Rao said that the government and the Army had arranged for two rescue helicopters as part of the operations.

The troops started their first operation in Alwal as it was one of the worst affected low-lying areas in the city. Rescue operations by the government and the army are in full swing, and the city is expected to return to normalcy in a few days.

Meanwhile, KTR visited the Hussain Sagar area and monitored the situation. The GHMC officials told him that the maximum safe height of the water was 515 metres, and that the current level was already above 513 meters. KTR immediately permitted the officials to release excess waters.

GHMC Commissioner B Janardhan Reddy, too, reviewed the situation in the city and said that all possible measures were being taken to expedite the rescue operations to help people through the heavy rains. The Commissioner said that the GHMC was supplying tankers carrying fresh drinking water to the low-lying areas, and was monitoring the situation in the twin cities. He requested people not to believe rumours about the situation that were making rounds in the social media.

Hyderabad Mayor Bonthu Rammohan also urged people not to believe rumours about the situation of the city, and warned of action against those who spread them as they were creating unwanted hysteria among the people despite the situation being "manageable".

During the last 24 hours (from 8:30 am onwards on Thursday), Hyderabad recorded 73 mm of rain. Nizampet, Begumpet, Alwal, Quthbullapur, Charminar, and Malkajgiri are the worst-hit areas.