Hyderabad: Every time the city witnesses heavy rains, flooding and water-logging become a common sight in the city for all Hyderabadis. It doesn’t just slow down traffic everywhere but also causes huge inconvenience to traffic police personnel who stand all day come rain or shine to ensure that commuters reach their destination without any hassle.
However, another sight that has become common nowadays is that of traffic police personnel removing garbage caused due to water-logging. With or without the required gear. They remove garbage and any other thing that blocks the inflow of water into the sewerage lines, a job that the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) should be doing.
So why is the Hyderabad traffic police doing the GHMC’s job?
On Sunday, the Hyderabad Traffic Police once again took to Twitter, and posted a video of two traffic cops at Neeru’s Junction, Jubliee Hills, clearing debris on the road which caused water logging. In the video, the two men can be seen digging deep in dirty water, to remove garbage with their bare hands. Both the policemen, as always, had to wade in the dirty water to do this.
So where was the GHMC?
Siasat.com got in touch with A V Ranganath, joint commissioner of police (Traffic), Hyderabad, who said that traffic policemen work as the “first responders”, given that GHMC officials take time to reach any location to fix problems. “It takes nearly 10-15 minutes for the GHMC officials to come. Therefore we work as first responders so that the commuters are not affected.”
When asked about the safety of his men, the senior police officer said that gloves and rubber boots are provided in police stations where water logging is a common issue. “Safety equipment is provided so that the policemen and women do not fall sick,” he said.
Ranganath stated that both departments work together. “We work as a team and do not want to wait. If we wait for the GHMC, the public will suffer,” he said.
GHMC ignores responsibilities
When Siasat.com contacted GHMC’s engineer-in-chief Ziauddin Mohammed, he said, “Our officials are everywhere in the city but cannot be present every time.” He however did not comment further on the issue, when asked why policemen often have to do what the GHMC is supposed to be doing.
