Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC) has prepared summer action plan with about ₹7.93 crore to deal with drinking water supply issues. As part of the plan, the civic body will take up as many as 96 works.
According to Superintending Engineer, Water Supply Department, K.V.N. Ravi, of the total budget, about ₹ 3.53 crore will be spent on arranging new bores, repairing the damaged/non-functioning ones or arranging spare parts. This includes as many as 46 works in all the eight zones. The civic body will also spend about ₹ 1.73 crore for hiring of water tankers in the urban body limits. Another ₹1.45 crore will be spent on electrical maintenance at reservoirs during the summer. About ₹51.82 lakh was proposed for hiring of vehicles.
Sources from the corporation said that at present around 40 water tankers are taking around 130 trips in the city to meet the drinking water requirements of the public. Another 25 additional tankers will be deployed to identified areas during the summer. Meanwhile, another 40 new borewells will be also arranged.
It was learnt that the GVMC intends to focus on outskirt areas, especially the merged localities like Bheemunipatnam, Pendurthi, Anakapalle and Gajuwaka, where drinking water issues generally arise. Several corporators from the GVMC have also complained about the possible drinking water scarcity for the residents of hillock areas during the recent ‘Coffee with Corporators’ programme, which the officials want to address in the coming days.
