Severe water scarcity in Cantonment areas

Secunderabad: The demand for water tankers has gone up several notches in the Secunderabad Cantonment. The areas where water pipelines have not been laid, the problem is acute. The call centre at SCB is flooded with calls, and on an average, it books 100 a day.

"The areas we supply the water tankers are Marredpally, Rasoolpura, some colonies of Tirumalgherry, Mahendra Hills, Karkhana and also some trips in Bowenpally, Bolarum," said Shashank Surya, assistant engineer (civil), Water and Street light Department at SCB.

Surya said that because of the summer, the demand for water tankers has increased and vehicles make about 60 payment trips per day, and 20 to 25 public trips (that is free water supply) per day. About 88,000 gallons of water is supplied by the department per day.

SCB supplies tankers in 6 to 7 slums that include some areas of Karkhana, 108 Bazar, Chintal Bazar and Gandhi Nagar. In areas where water pipelines have been laid, such as Mud fort, Indira Nagar Colony, Madhava Nagar, water tankers are not needed there.

As of now, SCB operates 11 water tankers and charges Rs 500 for domestic category and Rs 850 for commercial category. In several colonies in the cantonment, there is no water supply for days. In West Marredpally, for instance, water supply is once in three days, rues Rama Balakrishnan.