Hyderabad: Shortage of drinking water will continue to trouble the residents of Madhapur, Hitec City, Kondapur, Kothaguda, Nanakramguda, Serilin-gampally and other colonies in Cyberabad even in 2014.
The Water Board is at present supplying about 15 million gallons of water daily to these areas against a daily demand of over 40 MGD. As it is, a large number of gated communities and colonies in Cyberabad do not have a water distribution network and even the few colonies that are fortunate enough to have water supply lines will still be short of water.
This is because the water supply to the IT corridor will be enhanced only if an additional 172 MGD is supplied to the city from Phase-I of the Godavari water project. Though the Water Board is confident of completing the Rs 3,375-crore phase of the Godavari water project by March 2014 (i.e. before polls to the state Assembly), enquiries by this correspondent revealed that the project is unlikely to be completed even by May-June 2014.
Though there will be a little relief if phase-III of the Krishna water project is commissioned, the IT corridor will get sufficient supplies only when Godavari phase-I is commissioned. At present, the areas of Malkajgiri, Alwal, Kapra, Kowkoor, Qutbullapur, Suraram, Yapral are getting water supply from Singur.
“The Godavari water will solve the water problem in Malkajgiri, Alwal, Kapra and Qutbullapur municipal areas. Then the Water Board will stop Singur supply to these areas and supply it to the IT corridor, and the total supply to Cyberabad areas may even cross 50 MGD daily,” a senior official said.
However, work on the Godavari project is far from over. Only 60 per cent of the work has been completed in the last seven years, and it is unlikely that the remaining 40 per cent will be completed in just three months. Even the AP Lok Ayukta expressed its ire at the Water Board’s claim of completing the remaining 40 per cent of the work in just three months.
In another development, Forum for Good Gover-nance, a civil society group, claimed the Water Board does not have water allocation for Godavari project from Yellampalli. Forum secretary M. Padmanabha Reddy said, “The Godavari project was given water allocation of 20 TMC from Pranahitha, which may cost Rs 40,000 crore.
It has remained a non-starter. The Board is misleading people stating it has 20 TMC allocation from the Sripada Yellampalli project in Karimnagar district. We filed an RTI and the reply shows there is no allocation for Godavari city water project,” he said.
