The Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply & Sewerage Board (HMWS&SB) on Monday said that it has been providing more than twice the capacity of drinking water to Osmania University.
As per the agreement between the Water Board and the University, the institution limits are to be provided with 455 kilo litres per day (kld). But it has been providing 1,194 kld. As per latest figures, this supply was enhanced by another 77 kld, making it 1,271 kld now.
Osmania University campus gets its water supply from two sources: Tarnaka, O&M division VII and Adikmet, O&M division V through 200mm diameter pipeline. While the agreement was for 455 kld, the Board’s supply is 1,194 kld. The additional 77 kld is via 100 mm diameter pipeline from Adikmet.
The Board engineers reviewed the situation on ground in the university limits on Monday and said there was no interruption in the supply. However, maintenance of water through internal pipelines for supply to various hostels is in the university’s purview. Water officials said the Board was ready to provide more water, over an above the present supply, on request.
HMWS&SB engineers at the Osmania University pump room | Photo Credit: By Arrangement
Water Board chief C. Sudarshan Reddy also spoke to university Vice-Chancellor D. Ravinder and enquired about the alleged misleading information on water crisis in the campus limits.
The alleged water shortage in the university came to light on Sunday, a night after women students sat outside their hostel in protest alleging negligence of the authorities in supplying adequate water. The aggrieved protesters were women, who alleged that the hostel director provided only a water tanker per day for several hundred students.
While pictures and videos of the situation quickly went viral, the traction reached over 62,000 views and comments on Monday when Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) president K. Chandrasekhar Rao posted the protest video along with a hostel notice on his X account.
“Telangana CM and Dy CM were misleading the people on power, irrigation and drinking water supply in the state for the past 4 months. Notice of Osmania University Chief Warden confirms that all their claims were farce. The truth is that there is power, drinking water and irrigation water crisis in Telangana,” he wrote.
The undated hostel notice, Mr. Rao posted, was purportedly issued by the chief warden of the Osmania University, which says that hostels and messes will be closed from May 1 till May 31 in view of summer vacation.
“Due to severe summer conditions there is shortage of water and electricity in the hostels. All boarders are kindly requested to cooperate in this regard,” the notice added.
As per the details, it was found that Osmania University had declared its summer vacation on the said dates in its Almanac of PG Programmes II Semester on March 18.
