No one wants to plug this leak!

Water is precious and every drop counts are the words that the Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (HMWS&SB) tankers brandish. Ironically most of their vehicles hardly seem to adhere to this practice that they preach.The city is now wilting under an intense heat wave and a poor monsoon last season (the scenario is likely to prevail this year too!) has ensured that groundwater levels had depleted as early as February.

So tankers have now become commonplace and needless to say, they are a priced commodity. In this scenario, leaking water tankers is no less than a criminal waste of the elixir of life. Worse, the water board’s officials are living in denial over the issue. “But there is no leakage!” vehemently insisted one of the senior officials of the HMWS&SB.

A similar attitude was mirrored by tankers owners as well. “No, the tankers don’t leak. They are all new vehicles. Maintenance is done regularly,” said one of the tanker owners at SP Road. Anand Swaroop, the general manager for HMWSSB's Malkajgiri circle, added, “Only if there are any complaints of major leakages, we look into it. To file any complaint about the tankers a toll free helpline number 155313 is available.”

When the CityTab pursued the case, Anjali, the board’s customer service executive, said that complaints regarding leaking tankers can’t be registered on the helpline. “We don’ take complaints on this [issue]. Only complaints about leaking taps or tankers not being delivered on time can be taken. You must go to a nearby water board office to file this complaint,” said Anjali.

Many from the city however stay away from complaining to the board, not because of a lackadaisical attitude, but due to fear of a backlash. Aruna, a disgruntled resident of the Umanagar Colony, Begumpet, said that she had called a tanker at 5 am on Friday and it hadn’t reached till the next morning.

“We are scared that if we complain, the tanker drivers will take even longer or won’t come to our place at all. We haven’t taken a bath since morning because there is no water in our taps. It hurts to see that water is being wasted on roads. I am sure that by the end of the journey, we don’t get the amount of water that we are promised, but there is no way to measure and verify,” she lamented.

But is there no solution to the practice of leaking water tankers? Yes there is and the Water Board can look for inspiration from petrol tankers that are taken extremely good care of, due to combustibility of the substance. “The rules and regulations are very strict for petrol tankers and there are heavy penalties for those who don’t follow them. That’s the reason there are no leakages. This is the solution for water tankers too,” opined Kashish, dealer and owner of Full Moon Petrol Pump Station, Somajiguda.

By:Nikhita Gowra