Rains expose GHMC apathy

Rains have poured misery on the people with streets of Hyderabad becoming deadly. After a prolonged dry spell, the city received heavy rains all through Monday with many areas like Shaikpet and Kukatpally receiving more than 10 cm in a span of two hours. This has become the new normal. However, what is a matter of concern is the apathy shown by GHMC. Heavy rainfall and flooding happen every year and the traffic comes to a standstill.

Open drains and manholes add to the woes of commuters, while GHMC officials are caught napping. There is no monsoon preparedness and there are no proper outlets for the rainwater to recede and flow. Power outages are also common. We all seek long-term solution to this yearly horror. Hope authorities from the civic body will rise to the occasion and bring all-round relief to us.

Parimala G Tadas, Hyderabad-50

GHMC should come up with permanent solutions

This is invariably an annual ritual in the twin cities come rainy season. Rainwater flooding is common, mostly because of poor city planning on the one hand and human greed on the other that has led to haphazard growth of the twin cities, which is the root-cause of inundation during rains. Perhaps the road caving in Banjara Hills wherein a water tank fell into the ditch causing panic all around, appears to be the last nail in the coffin. The civic body, state government and the ruling party should take stock of the situation by revisiting the causes of regular inundation and its devastation.

Instead of taking permanent remedial measures, the authorities always take temporary steps. Successive governments have failed to boost civic amenities. Earlier there was a drive to restore all the 1000+ encroached water bodies in the twin cities to prevent water logging and related mishaps during rainy season. However, it was abandoned suddenly for reasons best known to the authorities concerned! Meanwhile, it is the residents who suffer untold miseries every year and the local body looks askance unable to solve the flooding problem, once and for all.

Govardhana Myneedu, Vijayawada

What a series! Test cricket triumphs!

Even those cricket pundits who keep on reiterating that Test cricket is fast fading, would have been on the edge of their seats, biting their nails with adrenaline gushing while watching India and England play one of the most thrilling Test matches in the game’s history at the Oval. The morning session of the fifth day of the last Test of the extraordinary series had everything-palpable tension, pressure, thrill, chill and suspense of the kind which even ODI’s and T20’s can’t boast of. Mohd Siraj played a pivotal role in the five-match series.

This young team led by the dynamic Subhman Gill is sure to stay for long, while the experience gained in England will bolster their capabilities in handling match-tensions. There is no denying it was Test cricket that won over everything else. There was never a dull moment in the series with players of both teams displaying their best. The series especially the Oval Test will be remembered forever. As the BBC puts it, ‘none will match what we have witnessed over the past seven weeks. What a series!’.

M Pradyu, Kannur

Fantastic effort Team India!

The young Indian team, without Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and R Ashwin, exceeded the expectations of every fan. Gill, the apprentice, as far as captaincy is concerned, showed remarkable constraint on and off the field, barring one instance.

What is more fascinating is that Gill’s overseas batting stocks went upwards, even though the mantle of captaincy fell on him. Meanwhile, Mohd Siraj, the workhorse, has finally come out of Bumrah’s shadow with his stunning performances. A word pf praise must also go to debutant Prasidh Krishna, who as support bowler stepped into Siraj’s shoes.

Nagendra Kumar Vempalli, Bengaluru- 560037

Need for SIR all over country

Apropos the editorial ‘Crisis credibility will hurt both ECI and democracy’. It’s quite clear that the Election Commission of India (ECI) is being blamed by political parties in the wake of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in Bihar, which is necessary and inevitable in rectifying electoral rolls in the state.

Naturally this will hit ineligible voters hard as their names will be deleted. It is imperative that duplicate and ineligible voters must be excluded across the country. The Election Commission must ignore irrational stonewalling efforts against SIR by the likes of TMC, DMK and the Congress.

S Lakshmi, Hyderabad