City: Hyderabad

Vidya Jonnagada, a resident of Tarnaka escaped the hardships of many of her neigbours who were stuck in their homes and flats without power, water and connectivity for several days due to the flood havoc caused by the incessant rains in October. “We had one advantage,” said Vidya. “We had set up a solar-powered backup for our entire complex, which proved a life-saver".  Tilak S. Gajendran, a resident of Nizampet too said the solar power backup enabled him to see through those rainy days even though the solar panels wasn’t very effective. “We were fortunate to have some power during…

According to some accounts such as this, every year over 200 pedestrians are killed on Hyderabad’s roads on average. This number might seem like a lot, but as someone who walks very often, I was actually expecting it to be quite higher considering the absolute lack of apathy from our civic authorities and even fellow citizens to pedestrian safety.  It is said that everyone is a pedestrian at some point. I don’t know how true that is, because it fails to explain the life-threatening situations our city forces pedestrians to be in almost everywhere. Issues with infrastructure A big part…

“To forget how to dig the earth and tend the soil is to forget ourselves." -- Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi Suchitra Akella, an ex-employee of HSBC, planted her terrace garden five years ago when she was pregnant with her second child. “Although I had ornamental plants while living in a flat, I was worried about managing the terrace garden,” says Suchitra. “My initial efforts failed many times. Then V S Kumar, Naresh and Shastry from the Rythu Mitra gardening group provided great support. The horticulture department was also helpful. Now, we source fresh produce directly from our terrace vegetable patch at…

Hyderabad has been in a tizzy ever since the sudden call for civic polls on December 1, 2020, followed by ballot counting on December 4th and if required, repolling on December 3rd.  The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) is in charge of the civic administration and infrastructure of Hyderabad, which is the 6th most populous urban agglomeration in India and spanning an area of 650 sq km. The GHMC elections are generally held once in every five years. This time around, they have been advanced by two months, causing strong ripples in some sections of the political parties in the…

Pedestrians are among the most endangered population category of Hyderabad, the sixth most populous urban agglomeration in India and the fourth largest in terms of area. “One-third of accident victims in Hyderabad were pedestrians,” according to Telangana Director General of Police, M Mahender Reddy.  Given the current state of the pedestrian walkways and footpaths, this comes as no surprise. The rapid cheek-by-jowl urbanisation over the last four decades has put a heavy burden on Hyderabad’s infrastructure, especially its transportation and road network. The few pavements that do exist are in very poor condition with about 95% of them encroached by…

It was October 23rd, 2020, 10 days since Hyderabad witnessed the highest 24-hour rainfall ever, resulting in a flood-like situation. The sun was shining bright and there were no signs of clouds. At noon, I left for Nadeem Colony, one of the worst affected areas in Hyderabad.  I live just 11 kms from Nadeem Colony, and yet reading about and watching the videos of people in distress gave me an alien feeling, as my area appeared to be in perfect shape. What ails Nadeem Colony, I wondered, as I waited for my Ola bike. As we proceeded on the Old…

Hyderabad lay submerged under the highest ever rainfall since 2003. While the October average has seen around 103.6 mm, October 13th saw the skies discharge 192 mm of rain, followed by another deluge in and around Hyderabad on October 17th. Added to the pandemic, the heavy rainfall made an already bad situation for Hyderabadis much, much worse. Major roads and highways were severely damaged and several colonies were isolated from the rest of the city. Hundreds of families were unable to access basic needs like drinking water, food and power for over three days following the rainfall. About 80 colonies…

Nagamma and Tirupataiah, a couple hailing from Kurnool district are waste pickers at the Kattedan Industrial Estate (KIE), near Rajendranagar in Hyderabad. Another waste picker, Shantamma took up this activity when she shifted to the area after her marriage.  Spread across 110 hectares, the KIE houses 450 units belonging to manufacturing, oil refining, rewinding machines, food processing industries. The industries provide employment to 10,000 laborers, and the total population of the area is roughly 26000, most of them living in the neighbouring villages. Industrial pollution -- primarily high concentration of mineral oil and metals in the soil, dust, odour and…

At least one pedestrian life in Hyderabad was lost every other day in 2019.   In total, 602 pedestrians lost their lives on the roads of Hyderabad between 2017 and 2019. More than half of them (52.4%) were hit by vehicles while crossing the road. A few others were victims of road crashes as they went about their morning walk, or while waiting for a bus or other modes of transport by the side of the road. And at least 14 children, all under 10 years of age, got hit by vehicles while playing by the roadside during this period.  The…

Left with few options to prevent the spread of the virus, the Telangana police have intensified lockdown procedures by imposing a 7 pm to 6 am curfew in Hyderabad. The government is working to ensure that the city’s 5.4 lakh people below poverty line (BPL) (as per 2017 govt data) -- of which 4.3 lakh are in the core city area while the rest live in surrounding municipalities -- get adequate relief. Immediately following the Prime Minister’s speech on March 22nd, Hyderabad saw a sudden exodus of people desperate to reach their villages in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and other states.…