Illegal connections wreck HMWS&SB

The Water Board is leaking as illegal water connections are making a dent to the already cash strapped Water Board. The loss is to the tune of ` 15- 20 crore in monthly revenues. Most of the illegal connections are found in basthis. Fingers are pointed at the GHMC ruling that made occupancy certificates mandatory to apply for a pipeline connection. And the certificates are issued only to those with a living area of 200 sq yards. But what about those living in small houses or huts? Can they live without water?

These are a few examples. It is because of the illegal connections Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (HMWS & SB) is losing anywhere be- tween Rs 15-20 cr from the estimated revenues of Rs 50-60 cr per month. The official statistics of HMWS&SB say that there are 8 lakh pipeline connections in the city and it is esti- mated that 1.5 lakh connections are illegal. Officials at HMWS & SB say that there are no proper procedures regarding the issue of the connections which is leading to the increase in the number of illegal connections. The point to note here is that due to the dent in the revenues the employees of water board have received their pay,late for the month of July.

Water Board rules say that a household should have only one connection and if they need to increase the capacity of the water flow they have to pay HMWS & SB for the extra capacity line. It should be noted that the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) in 2011 passed a ruling which says that a pipeline connection has to be given to any living space that is above 200 square yards, if they produce an occupancy certificate issued by the GHMC. These rules are now a hindrance to people living in basthis. Be it not meeting the criteria or be it the carelessness on the part of GHMC authorities, there are now about 3000 applications with HMWS & SB that were on hold be- cause of the absence of occupancy certificates. The officials at Water Board are livid against the GHMC saying that this rule alone has put a dent in its revenues.

A disgruntled resident at Filmnagar said, “The Water Board has made it mandatory to submit occupancy certificate for a water pipeline connection. I have applied for a GHMC certificate but haven’t received it as yet. People cannot live without water and we are in no position to pay huge amounts for water tankers. So I have paid a Water Board personnel Rs 500 to get a connection. I know it is illegal but how can you expect us to live without water.”

A senior official at HMWS & SB said, “There are rules to tackle illegal connections, but the problem here is that we are not implementing them. Having an illegal connection is a crime under section 49 (b) of HWMS&SB Act, 1989. The removing and damaging of any connection is a crime under sections 430 of IPC and 425 of Public Property Act”.

Sadly, not more than a handful of cases are registered against illegal connections. The open secret is that illegal connection can be tapped for Rs 500 to Rs 5000 as a bribe.

Water supply twice a week?

There were bountiful rains, yet the city is heading for a water crisis. If the reports emerging from HMWS & SB are believed to be true, the city might receive water once in three days from August 15 instead of alternate days. The reason: Water reserves in the two main reservoirs of the city, Osman Sagar and Himayath Sagar, are depleted owing to poor in- flows (as reported by Hyderabad Hans earlier). The Water Board has been sup- plying water from Singur and Krishna but without water from Osman Sagar and Himayath Sagar it will not be able to supply water on alternate days.The au- thorities cited poor inflows as the reason. There was no inflow to the reservoirs on Monday and Osman Sagar has 0.040 TMC of water while Himayath Sagar has 0.130 TMC of water. An official with HMWS & SB said that the Board might cut 10 million gallons per day from the daily supply of 317 gallons.

• A local political leader who resides in Prakash Nagar, Secunderabad, has to pay HMWS & SB Rs 69,897 as water connection charges. The authorities have issued him a notice in November 2011, as the leader didn’t care about the notice; the water board authorities severed the pipe connection.
• The leader however, bribed the entry level employees and got back the connection. Recently in a survey undertaken at Alwal the authorities found out that there are 250 illegal connections and severed all the lines. A day later all were reconnected.
• In slums like Dhoolpet, it is a known fact that low level employees take bribe and offer Illegal pipeline connection. In a few basthis at Filmnagar, there are reports that an officer takes somewhere from Rs 4000 to Rs 5000 for an illegal connection

- ADITYA PARANKUSAM