02-08-2025
HYDRAA initiates ‘Basthi tho Dosti' programme
The Hyderabad Disaster Response & Asset Protection Agency (HYDRAA) has started a new initiative titled 'Basthi tho Dosti' (Friendship with Slums) to spread awareness about its activities in city slums.
The first programme under this initiative was held at Toli Chowki, where HYDRAA has cleared a stretch of Bulkapur drain, removing tonnes of garbage and silt.
Addressing several representatives from surrounding slums, Commissioner of HYDRAA A.V. Ranganath said that the agency has always been on the side of the common man.
He urged people to counter the narratives against HYDRAA being spread by land-grabbers. The homes of the poor would never be pulled down, and if they had to be pulled down, HYDRAA would go ahead only after the residents are provided alternative housing, he added.
Mr. Ranganath said that areas such as Virat Nagar and Basava Tarakam Nagar in Shaikpet and Tolichowki would get flooded due to garbage and silt accumulated over years, which included mattresses, pillows and plastic waste. CCTV cameras will be installed all along the Bulkapur drain, as a deterrent to people littering the drain.
HYDRAA Additional Director Varla Papaiah said that a total of 750 slums in the city are flood prone, and HYDRAA will take up drain cleaning at all these locations.
