Even as Hyderabad was limping back from the floods caused by heavy rains, the denizens observed the 108th anniversary of the Great Deluge of September 1908 in the river Musi which left 15000 dead and nearly half of the city devastated.
It was on September 28, 1908 that a raging Musi river wiped out the human settlements, washed away houses and other structures along its course in the city after two lakes burst out following the heavy rains. 80000 people were left homeless as 18000 houses were washed away leaving a trail of death and destruction behind.
September is known as “Sitamgar” in the history of Hyderabad as the city of yore witnessed many major tragedies and disaster during the month. It was with a sense of déjà vu that Hyderabadis once again bore the brunt of rains this year in the same month.
The famous Tamarind Tree in the Osmania Hospital park was the focal point as many prominent Hyderabadis gathered there to observe the anniversary of the Musi floods. The tree still stands tall and preserved painstakingly as it was known for saving the lives of 150 people who took refuge atop the tree.
Addressing the gathering on the occasion the famous author Anand Raj Verma recalled how the then ruler the Sixth Nizam Mir Mahabub Ali Khan tackled with the disaster by remaining among the people and throwing the doors of his palace open for the people so nobody goes hungry.
“on the advice of the court astrologer Jhumar lal Tiwari, Mahabubn Ali Pash made an offering to the raging Musi to appease it. he wore a dhoti and a janeve like a Brahmin while making the offer to appease the river”, he recalled.
Finding a parallel between the disaster of 1908 and the present situation Dr Veda Kumar, head of the Forum for Better Hyderabad said that the city had become flood free after Visweswarya drew up a plan and two resevoirs were built across the river Musi.
“But now with the city growing in unplanned way and tampering with the land use policy the people of the city are paying a huge price”, he said pointing out that numerous storm water drains were converted in to sewage lines”, he said.
“Hyderabad was built by Mohammed Quli along the banks of the river in Musi, a region occasionally subject to rainstorms of extreme violence”, said Mohammed Safiullah another historian and one of the record keepers of the city’s history.
He said that the flood of 28 September 1908 was the worst after 75 long years in Hyderabad.
“The river rose to about 15 to 20 feet high in the inhabited area on both the sides drowning the houses and property for an averaged width of half a mile”, he recalled quoting the old timers.
Even today the city get heavy to very heavy rains every 20 years and many areas of the city get flooded. The last such episode was witnessed in August 2000 and now 16 years later the same story was repeated as the experts and officials attributed the stagnation of water to massive encroachments and illegal constructions on the lake beds and the course of the storm water drains.
As the Musi river remains dry for the remaining years and the long years of neglect has reduced it to a dirty drain, the planners and the policy makers have encouraged the construction of buildings and various state projects on its bed further reducing its width.
Mahatma Gandhi Bus Station, proudly referred to as Asia’s biggest by the official is once glaring example of the havoc played with the water bodies in the name of development by successive government. The bus station was built on an island in the middle of the river. later a park and a garbage dump also came up to give company to the bus station and today it is surrounded by the river Musi.
If this was not enough a Metro Rail station was being built over the river and may pillars have also been erected over which the line has been laid.
It is clear the policy makers and planners have refused to learn any lesson despite paying heavy price for playing havoc with the city’s environment.