Hyderabad: Board gives free tankers to VIPs as citizens cry for water

Hyderabad: At a time when the entire city is suffering from water scarcity, VIPs enjoy get free water tankers from the Hyderabad Water Board. As per the official Website of the Water Board, 124 tankers were used to cater to the VIPs.

Seven tankers were sent to former minister Geetha Reddy in Marredpally, three to Madannapet area corporator Sahadev Yadhav, seven for Nampally MLA Jaffar Hussain, seven for the NTR Estate at Asifnagar, 28 for the CM’s Camp at Banjara Hills, three for Dilkush guest house, 21 for Lake View guest House and Majeera and seven tankers for Raj Bhavan. The Website also states that 49 tankers were sent to Owasi Hills (under the category ‘slums’) while quite a few free water tankers also go to religious sites. The free tanker services were introduced to benefit the needs of the city’s poorer sections.

DC reader Y. Pratap in a letter to the newspaper, wrote: “The Hyderabad Water Board claims on its web site that they are supplying 13,356 free water tankers per week. But the list of recipients has many VVIPs competing with slum dwellers for the free tankers. Prominent among them is former Chief Minister and the present Governor of Tamil Nadu who gets 21 free tankers per week. Others include Geeta Reddy, Nampally MLA Jaffar Hussain and corporators. Religious institutions are also supplied water tankers free of cost with mosques getting 500 tankers per week, temples getting 200 per week and churches 20 per week. Meanwhile, the common man, even after paying, has to wait for more than a month to get a water tanker.”

When contacted, Ms Geetha Reddy, produced tanker receipts and said, “For the hospital (which is run by the family), we pay '700 per tanker and for the residence Rs 450. We pay for every trip. I have never misused my power even during the Congress government. I don’t know how my name shows up on the website. We have been buying tankers for decades and the monthly expense comes to Rs 60,000.”

Bahadurpura MLA Mohd Moazam Khan, whose name figures on the list, said, “Ninety per cent of the localities in my constituency don’t receive tap water, they completely depend on tankers. Shantinagar is the worst hit. I do not order tankers for my personal use but for the community.”

Madannapet BJP corporator Sahadev Yadav and Nampally MLA Jaffer Hussain said no tankers supplied water to their residences and neither had they booked any free tankers. Former corporator of Erragadda Sada Siva Yadav denied booking a tanker for his residence.

“When citizens of our constituency approach us over delays or failure in tanker delivery, I recommended to the division officer for supply. No free tankers were supplied to my residence.”

When contacted, a senior official from the Water Board’s revenue department said, “Free tankers are provided on two counts, one is for localities where Board pipelines have not been installed, and second for economically poor regions.”

He said Hyderabad has more than 1,000 slums which do not have storage capacity.

“On one day water is supplied through the pipeline and the next day by tankers. On the request of many political representatives, tankers are sent to their constituencies,” he said.

Tankers are also booked in the name of political leaders but politicians and bureaucrats are not entitled to free tankers, they can only recommended for needy areas, the officer said adding that he would seek a report from the divisional heads on free tankers.