Water tankers for Holi draw flak from public

Hyderabad: The demand for Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (HMWS&SB) tankers reached a new high of 16,000 in the city over the past 48 hours even as some influential people organised rain dance theme parties on the occasion of Holi using water tankers.

Allegations flew thick and fast in the city after several event managers booked water tankers in advance to host rain dance events in Madhapur, Jubilee Hills, Sanathnagar and Kukatpally. Meanwhile, Commercial Taxes Minister T Srinivas Yadav on Wednesday drew flak in a section of the media for participating in a rain dance event which reportedly used 12 water tankers to celebrate the festival of colours.

He clarified that he had nothing do with the rain dance party and he had visited the event following an invitation from Church Colony residents. When asked about the wastage of water by certain sections of the society who procured water tankers, HMWS&SB Managing Director B Janardhan Reddy said water tankers were allocated based on the registration of the consumers.

He said water board had been allocating tankers to consumers based on the registration and there were no statutory guidelines on ways of using the tanker water. The water board MD appealed to citizens to conserve water. He said about 30 per cent of water could be saved if they would not use additional water to wash vehicles, vegetables, turn on taps while brushing and shaving.

He said special awareness campaigns would be conducted among school children and he requested Hyderabad and Rangareddy district Collectors to conduct campaign for conserving water. The demand for water tankers has been increasing at an alarming pace. The water board supplied about 50,000 water tankers in January, 62,000 in February and 50,000 till date during the current month.