Hyderabad: Residential bodies raise pitch for free water for all dwellers

Hyderabad: After the Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewage Board (HMWS&SB) decided to issue water bills to consumers who did not avail the State government's '20 KL Free Water Scheme,' city-based residential welfare associations along with the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), Greater Hyderabad Central City Committee demanded the Water Board to continue the free water supply scheme to the households who did not enroll with the Board. They said that collecting water bills from more than 4.2 lakh persons is unacceptable.

Urging the Water Board to equally provide the free water scheme to all the households in the city, M Venkatesh Secretary of CITU, Hyderabad said, "Irrespective of registering with the Water Board, everyone should get benefited with the 20 KL free water scheme. By providing free water to few eligible persons in the GHMC limits the Water Board is aiming to generate revenue from rest all other households. When the government has launched the scheme it must benefit each and every citizen and registration should not be a concern."

According to Water Board Managing Director (MD) Dana Kishore, till date, 4.2 lakh persons who are eligible to avail the 20KL free water scheme did not enroll with the Board to get benefits of the scheme. They were also given 13 months' time for the enrolment and the water bills for all the households from December 2020 to December 2021 summing up to Rs 520 crore were waived off, said Kishore.

"The Board also has the data of households that has no drinking water meters from several areas, but the officials have never asked the house owners to apply for the water meter and get registered," claimed Venkat.

The resident's welfare associations of the city lamented saying that there was no awareness or message conveyed by the Board in bastis, colonies and other residential areas.

Mohammed Ahmed, a resident of Shalibanda said, "A large number of residents in the southern part of the city has started receiving water bills from Rs 500 to Rs 800, after the Board announced that the billing will be calculated from January 1. This decision of the Water Board is completely wrong as many persons were unaware of linking the Aadhaar card with water connection."

The CITU Secretary also claimed that by simply starting the process of enrolling for the scheme and linking Aadhaar online, the Water Board expected that everyone will register, but the Board is unaware that many persons residing in slum areas or poorly developed areas do not know how to use the web portal for the registration purpose.

"Instead of carrying out awareness and conducting the registration process door-to-door, the Water Board is now sending water bill collectors to households for collecting pending bills. This is totally a wrong decision," said M Venkatesh.

He demanded that the free drinking water scheme should be continued and the Board should create awareness among all the residential areas especially slum areas.