Civic works in Hyderabad halted due to Covid-19 restrictions

The lockdown in Hyderabad along with the departure of migrant workers led ready mix concrete plants to halt operations. As a result, various civil projects under GHMC’s Secunderabad zone have stalled down to a snail’s speed. The oncoming monsoon in Telangana, expected in another week, has also raised concerns among civic officials regarding completion of sanctioned projects. These projects, in which, concrete mix is a vital element, including the building of retaining walls on culverts and open drains, strengthening of bund segments of open drains, widening and setting of CC roads in by-lanes, and other projects like building walkways in compound walls and parks, many of these works have come to a pause. It is determined that works valued around Rs 50 crore to Rs 100 crore have been delayed within the GHMC’s Secunderabad zone. In the Malkajgiri circle, most open drains (nalas) are stretched in preparation for the monsoon. For this, building retaining walls is a vital requirement to prevent the overflowing of sewage water into adjacent homes, while bund areas also need to develop after desilting works. A Senior Engineering official from Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC), from the Malkajgiri circle, told the media that related works were supposed to have been commenced by the civic body in other circles too. While civic body officials had finished the bidding process for civil works submitted by the engineering wing a few months ago, operations have been delayed due to the sharpness of the pandemic within Greater Hyderabad and its peripheral regions. Moreover, not many contractors had come forward because of a shortage of workers, as per another GHMC official. A shortage of concrete mixers that contractors used to obtain from several ready-mix plants. Most workers at such factories belong to states such as Maharashtra, Odisha, Bihar, and Chhattisgarh, of whom many have departed for their native places. Shortly after the Telangana government declared the first phase of the lockdown last month, several migrant workers feared a continuance of the same for months and left the city. Image SourceAlso read: Covid-19 curbs hit infra works, takeover of DLF areas in Gurugram Also read: Delhi govt allows construction work for one week starting May 31