Water crisis alarming: Telangana Govt

Hyderabad: Admitting to an alarming drinking water crisis staring at the state in the coming months, the Telangana govt on Wednesday promised to take concrete measures to provide relief to the people from severe drought conditions prevailing across the state.

PR Minister K T Rama Rao along with Agriculture Minister Pocharam Srinivas Reddy assured Assembly members during a short discussion on drought situation in the state and drinking water problem in the twin cities on Wednesday. "Funds are not a constraint in taking drought-relief measures, including providing drinking water to all habitations," said KTR.

"The government is also ready to provide funds from the Rs 4,675-crore Special Development Fund earmarked in the budget. Please hold review meetings with the district in-charge ministers and officers after the Assembly session to overcome problems at the village level.

I urge all legislators to allocate funds from their constituency development fund which has now been increased to Rs 3 crore," he said. The minister said the government has taken up short term, medium and long term measures to tackle the drought situation in the state. He said that Rs 389 crore have been released by the government, which would be with the district collectors.

Regarding the drinking water needs under the GHMC, the minister informed that every day the GHMC requires 660 MGD of water and government was able to supply 355 MGD through River Krishna. He said that four drinking water sources to Hyderabad -- Osmansagar, Himayatsagar, Manjeera and Singur had dried up resulting in water scarcity. He said that tankers were being used to overcome shortage of water.

He informed that there were 2,700 water bodies, including 169 in Hyderabad and over 2,500 in Ranga Reddy district. The minister said he would hold a review meeting with the city MLAs on overcoming drinking water problems here.
The minister informed that the government was taking steps to have 1,000 rain water harvesting pits in the GHMC area, which would be completed by June 2. He said the government would ensure digging of two lakh pits in the state.

In long-term measures, the government was taking up restoration of water bodies through Mission Kakatiya, he added. He said that the government was offering work to 12 lakh agricultural labour under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme.

The Municipal Administration Minister stated the rural governance would be strengthened soon by recruiting 1,778 village secretary posts. While 1,000 posts will be filled up directly through TSPSC, the rest will be through promotions, he said.
He accepted that there was a delay in releasing Asara pensions and added that it would be streamlined.

He informed that when the state government urged the Centre to link agriculture with MNREGS, the Union minster had asked him to show a model so that he can start a pilot project. The minister said that it would not be appropriate to dig borewells in the present situation as many are failing due to depleted levels of groundwater.

Earlier, Opposition members pointed out that the funds released by the government were insufficient and demanded increasing them. Congress member T Jeevan Reddy alleged that the government delayed the declaration of drought mandals. He said that had government sent the report early, the state would have received more funds. "The preparation of the list of drought-affected mandals is unscientific," he said and brought to the notice of government that only 231 of the 443 mandals in the state were declared as drought affected.

He alleged that the government was shying away because it would have to share the input subsidy burden. Reacting to this, the Agriculture Minister said the input subsidy was given as investment for the next kharif season and the season had not yet begun.

Jeevan Reddy asked the government to give drought dearness allowance of Rs 5,000 per month for a period of six months to farmers. Stating that the government used to provide 6 per cent rebate on the loans from Cooperative banks for the drought hit mandals, Jeevan Reddy asked why the rebate was not given to the farmers.

BJP member NVSS Prabhakar demanded permission for 100 borewells in the city to overcome drinking water problem and also Rs 100 crore per district. Congress member K Venkat Reddy demanded the government to appoint one special officer per mandal. “The government has increased salaries of employees and also MLAs what have the farmers done.

Government should think the farmers as an industry and come to its rescue by increasing at least the minimum support price. Half of the term is ending now but the ruling party is still talking about earlier governments,” said Venkat Reddy.
Replying to this, Srinivas Reddy said that the MSP is decided by the Centre.

He urged the parties to exert pressure on Centre for better MSP. He also wanted better insurance policy for the benefit of farmers. He said that a team of officials per mandal would be formed by the government.