Mokila is a region in Hyderabad that is being regarded as the next Banjara Hills. This is a newly developed area with permissions from government authorities granted in recent years and continuing to the present.
However, the authorities did not adequately address flood water management, and no drains were built with effective engineering.
Poloma Villas in Mokila are completely submerged in rain water. Each villa is worth Rs 3 crore to Rs 6 crore in this region, but the floodwater drains are almost nonexistent or ineffective.
Many residents in this colony who have traveled abroad say that our governments are not capable of effectively managing infrastructure with efficient engineering. They believe that town building and city infrastructure projects should be handed over to large private companies; otherwise, we can never become developed.
Even the disaster management department has not visited the area to check on the well-being of the residents, according to the colony's inhabitants, although they have shown interest in demolishing various illegal structures in other parts of the city over the past few days.
"We wish our Hyderabad disaster management team would come here to address our woes. At the same time, we are afraid that they might declare our villa land to be on what was once a lake and now falls under the Full Tank Level (FTL) regulations," said a resident with sarcasm.
It is also important to note that the present and previous governments have given permissions to build these posh villas. But what kind of infrastructure facilities the government has provided remains a big question. To blame it on lake encroachments, the residents say there are no lakes close to this development.
"The failure of government infrastructure is evident in many areas," says another resident.
On the other hand, social media comments under the YouTube videos of this Mokila venture's inundation are filled with one-sided anger and unrest from some people.
A netizen wrote, "Government can do nothing if you buy a Rs 6 crore villa by encroaching on a lake."
Another said, "Why did you purchase in a lake? Ask the builder how he planned it in a lake."
"Demolish these villas; they must be on the encroached lake.", said another.
"Why do you purchase, investing such a big sum in a low-lying area?"
"These are the problems of rich kids; they need no care."
"Anni black money tho konnaru.....stamp value entha petti konattu proof pettandi" ("They bought them with all black money... let them show proof of paying the full stamp value.")
These kinds of comments speak about the unreasonable hatred, preconceived notions, one-sided thought processes, and jealousy of many. Blaming the government is reasonable but pointing fingers on the owners of the villas is meaningless.
