Acute water crisis as 800 borewells go dry

Secunderabad: "It is one of the worst summers of my life. I've seen many a summer but nothing compares with the hardship of this year," says retired Railway employee Ravi K, a resident of Ishaq Colony. He is just one among the lakhs who are braving not just the onslaught of the heat wave but the sheer lack of water this year.

Water-starved, people are increasingly making calls to 21112111 – the number is on every resident's lips as requests for water tankers go on all day long. Speaking about the situation, Raj Kumar, Superintendent, Water Wing at SCB, says, "With 800 borewells going dry, the situation has come to such a pass. We are supplying 300 tankers to slums every day as there are no borewells in slums." There are 23 slums in the cantonment.

In several colonies, water is supplied once in five days. Close to 100 residential colonies are not receiving water supply regularly. Meena Raghuram, a resident of Teachers Colony, says, "Tall promises of providing water supply on alternate days were just for votes. The cantonment residents are given step-motherly treatment."

The demand to merge the SCB with the GHMC has been going on for years and the issue has once again come into limelight after the newly-elected Malkajgiri MP A Revanth Reddy demanded the merger last week while addressing a meeting.

In January this year, water supply was cut for two-days due to leakage in Krishna Drinking Water Supply pipelines. It may be noted that in the northern part of the Cantonment, water is supplied though Godavari pipelines and the rest with Krishna pipelines.

The Hyderabad Water Board supplies 63 lakh gallons of water per day (LGPD) under bulk category which is not sufficient to cater to the needs of the residents.

Sreejesh Nair, a resident of Sarva Sukhi Colony says, "The Secunderabad Cantonment is spread over just 40-odd sq km and the SCB is unable to provide basic civic amenities. There is a need to merge the SCB with GHMC."