Of 152 open cellars in Hyderabad, 76 found without safety measures

Monsoons are upon Hyderabad, with all the appurtenant forebodings — flooded roads, colonies, and homes, trees and poles uprooted, and open manholes and trenches awaiting that luckless soul who would flounder to his/her death.

According to data obtained from the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC), the city is dotted with a total 152 excavated cellars across various localities. Civic authorities have started to take stock of various construction sites, where the earth is excavated for basements, and left open. In the survey, only 51 excavations were found with retaining wall, and 76 of them without such safety measures. In other cases, retaining walls were under construction.

Open trenches and excavated cellars pose grave threat not only to lives, but also to property, as proven in multiple instances earlier. When filled with rainwater, they also result in erosion of earth, throwing all surrounding structures in peril. On May 7, seven migrant workers were buried alive at a construction site in Bachupally when the retaining wall caved in.

“While several of them are on the outskirts and away from the populated areas, we have started to issue notices to all, directing them to take safety measures required,” an official informed.

Letters are being issued to the builders to take precautionary measures during monsoons, and keep dewatering pressure pumps to drain out the rainwater. In a few cases, orders are being issued to stop the excavation works forthwith. Where the retaining walls are in progress, the builders are asked to barricade the site using blue polymer sheets.

Show-cause notices are being issued to unauthorised cellars being excavated without any building permission from GHMC. At nine each, Jubilee Hills and Khairatabad were the circles with the highest number of open cellars without retaining walls. Among zones, Khairatabad has the highest such trenches at 26, with LB Nagar following it with 22.

Action has been taken in case of 72 cellars throughout the city, with 80 awaiting action. According to officials, in most cases, building permissions were obtained years ago, yet construction was halted after cellar excavation. Efforts are on to identify such sites and ensure filling up of the trenches using construction debris. There is a moratorium issued by GHMC on cellar excavation till the end of monsoons, in order to prevent accidents.