GHMC budgets Rs 50cr to de‑silt; proof, please
Hyderabad’s drains get Rs 50 crore on paper this year. Allegations say bills outran brooms; the documents that would prove it are not yet public.
GHMC has budgeted Rs 50 crore for nala desilting in 2024–25; the supporting records have not been made public.
Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation has pencilled in Rs 50 crore to de‑silt 763 km of nalas in 2024–25, and says sanctions of Rs 58.45 crore were issued for 2024 works — 14 in progress, 62 to start, 59 at tender stage. That is from GHMC’s own budget, not a press meet.
Beyond the ledger, two reports allege the familiar Hyderabad monsoon ritual: silt ‘removed’ in cubic metres that never left the drain, trip sheets to Jawaharnagar carried by vehicle numbers that allegedly belong to parked cars and even motorcycles, and an engineer–contractor duet in Khairatabad Zone. They also say three MLAs complained to Commissioner R.V. Karnan and a vigilance inquiry was ordered. None of those papers — the complaint, the order, the bills, the trip logs, the yard receipts — have been published for the public to see.
What we can trace: GHMC tenders for nala desilting exist, from lakhs for ward‑level work to crore‑scale packages. What we cannot verify from the record reviewed: the Rs 20 crore ‘irregularity’ figure doing the rounds, the names of the three MLAs, or any official action against a specific engineer or contractor.
Hyderabad’s drains don’t care which flag runs Delhi — they flood just the same. If the BJP‑led Centre wants to posture about urban missions, it can start by backing transparent audits and data that GHMC can publish, not slogans. And the Congress, busy running Karnataka’s water politics and national theatrics, can spare the lectures until the paperwork on Hyderabad’s own drains is on the table. Publish the complaint, the order and the trip sheets; then we’ll all read the numbers together.