Hyderabad: If GHMC stops issuing trade licences to mineral water plants being set up in residential areas by inspecting the sites and cracking down on such illegal plants, a lot of groundwater can be preserved.
With summer here, around 4,000 mineral water plants have come up in the city. Several of these are running without licences and haven’t been inspected. Of the 4,000, only about 350 are ISI-certified legal plants.
The six-inch borewells used by these plants suck up double the water from the area. Though the health and sanitation wing of the GHMC is responsible for cracking down on this growing menace, the authorities have seized only 20 such plants in the last couple of years. The Bureau of Indian Standards, which is authorised to issue ISI licences, has a limited role in acting against these illegal plants.
The mandal revenue officer, the state’s groundwater department and GHMC are the monitoring authorities. A senior official from GHMC’s health wing said, “Packaged drinking water has to be treated and disinfected, a process that could involve filtration, UV or ozone treatment or reverse osmosis, before it is fit for human consumption. There are over 12 licences that need to be procured including small scale industries registration, ISI certification from Bureau of Indian Standards, pollution control certificate and trade licence from GHMC.
Due to inadequate manpower, many are not inspected. The licences are given to set up the plants in non-residential areas. The ground water authorities do not check on these plants and their working.”
According to market sources, a litre of packaged drinking water costs Rs 10-20 while natural mineral water starts at about Rs 20 a litre and can go up to Rs 125.
Begumpet resident S. Sudhakar in a complaint to DC, stated: “With the help of a local politician, an illegal mineral water plant is being operated in a residential colony. It has no GHMC licence and no pollution check certificate. However, they are managing because a local leader is shielding them. Day in and day out water is supplied and there never has any MRO check on the borewell drilling. The GHMC officials have not responded to our complaint too.”
Illegal water connection detected
The Water Board vigilance team detected an illegal water supply connection at the Sainath Delux Boys Hostel, Share Gate, King Koti. The hostel owners had taken an illegal water connection and were also using the sewerage line. Board officials filed a case against building owner Mohd Yousuf Ali with the Narayanguda police.
“Some house owners are taking water supply connections illegally from the board’s supply lines and some establishments are connecting their sewerage lines to the HMWS&SB lines with the help of local plumbers. Some are applying for water supply connections by paying the processing fee and taking illegal water connections with the help of plumbers, which is an offence under Indian Penal Code. Plumbers who are giving illegal connections are also liable for punishment under IPC,” an official said.
The applicant has to pay the connection charges estimated by the board, and the connection has to be given by the green brigade contractor and owners must obtain the Consumer Account Number.
