Despite bountiful rains and city water reservoirs being full to the brim; people residing in the slums of Secunderabad Cantonment Board (SCB) are still finding it tough to quench their thirst.
To ensure regular supply of drinking water to residents on every alternate day, SCB requires supply of about 70 lakh gallons of water per day. Against this, HMWSSB supplies 50 lakh gallons a day through six pump houses in the SCB.
As a result, residents of Railway Colony, Vasavi Nagar, parts of Bolarum, Picket, Lakshminagar, Karkhana and other localities are supplied water once in three days. At times, if a pipeline gets blocked or a valve develops a snag, supply is hindered by five days, says SCB Vice-president J. Pratap.
Many residents in the slums are still forced to rely on water tankers for supply of water. Apart from inconvenience to residents, this practice yields high expenditure to the Board since transportation, power cost etc. have to borne by the Board.
The Rs.10 crore project of laying pipelines from Mahendra Hills to Karkhana to ensure supply of 20 lakh gallons a day was completed in August this year. Yet, the HMWSSB has not commenced supply of water , leaving the residents in distress.
“We have approached the HMWSSB to launch the supply at the earliest. After conducting some preliminary tests, we expect them to commence supply shortly. However, the supply quantity would be decided by HMWSSB,” said SCB Chief Executive Officer C. Ravindra. Another water supply project that was commenced in 2009 from Alwal to Bolarum is yet to see the light of the day. Nearly 50 per cent of the pipeline laying works of the Rs. 11 crore were completed but HMWSSB halted the works.
