Hyderabad: Mission Bhagiratha, the ambitious drinking water project of the TS government, has missed deadlines at several stages even as the water situation in the state gets more critical. The project was scheduled to supply piped drinking water to each and every household in the state, every day, by December 2017. But the way things are going, the project is unlikely to be completed even by next summer.
There is no coordination between the government and the contractors, which it has appointed, so the latter proceed at their own pace. A review last week conducted by officials of the Telangana State Water Grid Corporation, which monitors the implementation of the project, revealed that there is a shortfall of about 40 per cent in meeting the deadlines.
For example, the agreement with contractors is to construct 4,000 intake wells across the state, but so far work has started on only 2,500 intake wells.Laying internal pipelines to supply water has also been proceeding at a leisurely pace.The Telangana State Water Grid Corporation vice-chairman V. Prashanth Reddy warned of suspensions if work was not speeded up before the monsoon season in June.
“Pipelines have to be laid from agriculture lands. Summer is the right season to do the work. Once the rains start, agricultural activities will begin, making it difficult to lay pipelines along agriculture lands. We have directed officials to complete pipe laying work by June, else they may face suspension and disciplinary action. Even contractors will not be spared if they fail to execute the work on time,” Mr Reddy said. Mission Bhagiratha will cost Rs 40,000 crore and is the brainchild of the Chief Minister, who took a vow that his party will not seek votes in the 2019 election if the government fails to deliver the project by then.
The project was launched only in the Chief Minister’s home constituency, Gajwel, on a pilot basis, in August last year. It was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It was supposed to cover some parts of Medchal, Nalgonda, Ranga Reddy, and Warangal districts by December last year, but made little headway.
