Hyderabad: Water Board to form special task force to address sewage issues

Hyderabad: In order to address the ever growing sewage issues in the city, the Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (HMWS&SB) has decided to start a three-month action plan besides constituting a special task force to address all sewage-related grievances.

Addressing a meeting held with officials on Friday at the Water Board office, Board Managing Director Dana Kishore said that a special task force would be set up to address the sewage issues in the next three months in all suburban municipalities under Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation limits.

"We have already identified 792 hotspots in these areas which are frequently overflowing and have called for separate reports prepared to undertake works for a permanent solution," said Dana Kishore. He further said that steps would be taken in the next three months to address as many of these issues as possible. He directed the authorities to identify the sewerage pipelines that are small and obstructing flow, and prepare proposals for laying new pipelines of a bigger size.

In the last three weeks, the Board has received 6,684 complaints about sewerage issues through its customer care call centre, public representatives, local people, WhatsApp and various social media outlets, with almost 85 per cent of the complaints lodged immediately. Soon, the MD directed the authorities to take action to resolve 95 per cent of complaints within a month.\ He said an additional 91 workers and 75 hydraulic silt grabber vehicles were being deployed to resolve the issues expeditiously. On this occasion, he revealed that ample funds would be allocated for taking up works. The meeting was attended by all senior officials, including general managers of all zones.