Hyderabad: SOS to Water Board to slake Old City's thirst

Hyderabad: With rising temperatures, residents of Old City are witnessing acute shortage of drinking water supply. Though the State government had promised to give uninterrupted supply of drinking water, areas in Old City have being facing irregular water supply for the last three months. Frustrated residents gave a representation to the Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewage Board (HMWSSB) officials and urged them to solve the water supply issue.

Several areas in Old city including the Shalibanda, Haribowli, Panch Mohalla, Himmatpura, Khilwat, Khursheed Shah, Chelapura, Moosa Bowli, Hussain Alam, Ghazi Banda, Shamsheergunj, Kishan Bagh, Falaknuma, Tadban have being facing drinking water shortage. According to the residents, they are not receiving water from the water pipelines and the water supply by the board is irregular and low pressure. The residents requested the board to supply adequate water and urged them to increase the pressure of water to meet their requirements.

Mohammed Abdul Hadi, a resident of Moosa Bowli said, "From last few months we residents are suffering a lot due to non-availability of water in our lane. There is no fix time for opening and closing the water supply valve. Residents are just making two rounds to the valve for filling water. In the past the valve was open for the entire day and we had sufficient water supply, but now we are completely deprived from drinking water. We residents urged the board to fix the timing and also open the valve completely so that every household in the area receives water." According to official sources, about 1,800 areas in the city are facing water shortage and around 1,500 water tankers are being booked per day in the Greater Hyderabad limits.

A resident of Ghazi Banda, Shaik Riyaz said, "We are forced to buy drinking water from outside and to book a water tanker, as water supply is reduced in our area. Around 100 houses here are facing shortage of drinking water." Several representations were been made to HMWSSB, but the officials have not taken any initiative to resolve the issue. "Recently, a resident of Moosa Bowli complained to the board, and they even assigned an officer to resolve the issue. The officer visited the area but did not rectify the issue till date," mooted Mohammed Ahmed, a social activist at Old city.

"After filing several complaints online, the local officers asked the residents to not file a complaint online. Even the higher officials responded positively to online complaints, only the local circle officers are ignoring the pleas and not supplying adequate water to houses," he added. A resident of Moosa Bowli gave a representation mentioning their house numbers to the Deputy General Manager at Chandulal Baradari and Manager at Pathergatti in Old City and requested the department to look at the issue and supply enough water in the area.