Nine months after the government provided sanction for the provision of water pipelines, fourteen colonies in the urban part of the Ranga Reddy district continue to thirst for water. Constructed by the GHMC under the JNNURM and Vambay schemes, all that these colonies have for water are borewells dug up in dozens.
The government had granted administrative sanction for providing external infrastructure to these colonies — 11 under JNNURM and three under Vambay — at an estimated cost of Rs.102.88 crore way back in August 2012.
The project was still a much-delayed one, with residents of these localities having to put up with untold miseries during previous summer, as all the bore-wells went bone dry. The pipeline laying works are still in limbo, as the promised funds have not yet been released to the Water Board (HMWS&SB).
Cart before the horse
“Despite lack of funds, tenders were finalised, and works were allotted to the contractors. In fact, works have already been completed with respect to three colonies. But due to the Water Board’s inability to pay them, the contractors have stopped work in the rest of the colonies,” discloses an official.
While work at Lakshmiguda, Cheeryal and Karmanghat is complete, water supply to these colonies remains a pipe dream as they do not have sumps and overhead tanks which were to be provided by the GHMC.
“As of now, each block has an overhead tank where water is pumped from borewells. But the common overhead tank and the sump which is to hold the water to be supplied by the Board, is still not built,” says the official.
These structures are available in only one colony among the fourteen: Turkayamzal. However, this colony has no water pipelines. Ultimately, pipeline or no pipeline, none of the colonies effectively have water supply now.
Ranga Reddy district collector A. Vani Prasad had reportedly written to the State government in March, seeking sanction of Rs. 1crore toward digging new bore-wells and deepening of the existing ones. The sanctions for these, too, have not yet arrived.
“As of now, We are plying about 50 tankers a day to these colonies. The GHMC too is plying tankers there. Groundwater condition this year is not as bad as in the previous year, and that alone is the saving grace for us,” says the official.
