Hyderabad: The Water Board has announced a complete shutdown of water supply on April 4, but many areas, especially in the old city, are facing acute water shortage as the Board, without any warning, has stopped supply.
Many localities now receive water just once in two weeks and are forced to completely depend on private tankers. The most affected areas in the old city are Chanchalguda, Barkaas, Chandrayangutta, Maisaram, Yakuthpura, Santhoshnagar, Vaishalinagar, Dilsukhnagar, Saroornagar, LB Nagar, Vanasthali puram, NTR Nagar, Alkapuri, and Malakpet.
In recent times, except for the April 4 notice, the Board has not been issuing water storages notices. Anil Shankar Kumar, a resident of Yakuthpura, says, “The Water Board, the GHMC, electricity and other departments are completely ignoring homes in the old city area. We are surviving on a few buckets a day. The online service of the Board is dysfunctional. The call centre takes our calls, but there is no respite. We have not received water since March 21.”
Another resident, L. Shanthi, adds, “At least, if there’s a warning, consumers will be prepared to face the situation. Earlier, in 2010, the Board would inform consumers in advance.”
The remaining areas in the twin cities that have been facing water scarcity are Hyderguda, Upparpally, Prashashan Nagar, Lingampally, Marredpally, Seethaphalmandi, Mettuguda, Tarnaka, Lalapet, Moulali, Nacharam, Beerapagadda, Boduppal, Habsiguda, Ramanthapur, Malkajgiri, Defence Colony, Sainathpuram, Gayathrinagar, Chanakyapuri, Bhongiri Municipality, Gachibowli, Sainikpuri, Elugutta, Kailasagiri, Banjara Hills, Somajiguda, Erragadda, Jubilee Hills, Yellareddyguda, KPHB, Bhagyanagar, Moosapet and adjoining areas. Meanwhile, Water Board officials have an explanation. “The Water Board is banking on the Krishna Phase-III project to ease the demand for water in peak summer this year. By March 31, 45 million gallons per day (MGD) of water will come in, which will be a big relief. The months of May, June and July are always the critical months. Hopefully, an additional 45 MGD of water from the Krishna phase-III project will come in by then,” authorities said.
