Dry state: Telangana water board fails to deliver

Hyderabad: Complaints are pouring in against the Water Board’s filling station officials for accepting tanker orders but failing to deliver. Instead of paying Rs 450 for a Water Board tanker, consumers have to pay Rs 750-800 for private tankers. The Board, meanwhile, cites staff crunch and fewer vehicles for the problem.

Faisal Ahmed, resident of Masab tank, Humayunnagar said, “My CAN number is 032152920; I booked a tanker on March 15. I received a call on March 22 from a tanker driver asking for directions to my residence. After giving the directions, the driver said that his vehicle did not have proper brakes and he could not get to my home and another tanker would contact me. Later in the day another tanker driver contacted me and said that the water pipe was not long enough and someone else would contact me. I received a message from the Water Board helpline, stating that the tanker booking had been cancelled due to unattended calls.”

S. Krishna, a resident of Gautamnagar, Malkajgiri, said, “Our colony has a severe water problem. We get supply once in five or six days, sometimes longer; my water bill is paid up. I booked a tanker with token number 6026, 3607 and 2976 but there is a severe delay of more than 10-12 days. Moulali Housing Board or Tarnaka do not want to take responsibility of serving the residents and worse of all, the customer care is pathetic, they are least bothered about the problems.”

Consumers also complain that the Board staffers, including the tanker drivers and linemen, are inconsiderate and rude.

“I depend on tanker bookings as my borewell dried up more than a month back and today there is not a drop of water available in our house. On March 23 I tried to contact the authorities over phone, but there was no response. Under such circumstance, what do I do for water? There is no mechanism through which I can get a tanker within half an hour in emergencies of this nature except to depend on private tankers. We are

ready to pay special charges as we need water urgently,” said R. Sampath Kumar, a resident of Kondapur. A senior Water Board officer said, “Most borewells across the Twin Cities have not been replenished. The problem is acute in most of areas in Cyberabad, mainly LB Nagar and Kukatpally (here many colonies have gone dry), Malkajgiri is another major problem. The demand is extremely high for tankers, both domestic and commercial. But despite delays, we are trying to meet the demand.”