With Bhagiratha, KCR taps goodwill

Hyderabad: Mission Bhagiratha, the prestigious Water Grid scheme of the TS government will become fully operational by June 2018. Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao, who had said that the TRS would not seek votes in 2019 elections if it failed to deliver the project by then, has devised the scheme in such a way that it would start supplying tap water to each household a year ahead of the 2019 general elections, thus providing a permanent solution to the problem of drinking water shortage in the state.

The Rs 40,000 crore scheme, considered to be the pet scheme and brainchild of the CM, has been categorised into six phases for execution. Of these six, three phases are on track to be completed in 2016. Mr Rao conceived the project soon after becoming CM in June 2014. The project is based on the success he had achieved as Siddipet MLA  in providing tap water to all the households in his constituency two decades ago.

The Siddipet scheme was conceived in 1997 and commissioned in 2000 to draw water from Lower Manair Dam in Karimnagar to supply water to about 145 villages at an estimated cost of Rs 60 crore. Now, it is supplying water to about 180 habitations. Medak, Nalgonda, Ranga Reddy and Warangal districts will be the first ones to receive drinking water through Water Grid by this month-end.

Panchayat Raj and Rural Development department, which has been executing this project, has set new targets to achieve every six months till it crosses the final milestone in June 2018. “Already, tenders worth over Rs 22,000 crore have been finalised and awarded. Construction of intake wells to store water has been completed in the first phase. Tenders worth Rs 15,000 crore to lay pipelines were also completed. We are ready to deliver first results to four districts by this month-end,” said PR minister K.T. Rama Rao.

He said that several industries, especially pharma companies, are seeking supply of treated water through the Water Grid, for which they are ready to pay. “As of now, industries are facing several logistic problems in getting treated water besides incurring heavy expenditure. They are ready to pay the same amount but want the government to supply treated water through the Water Grid. This way, we expect to meet some quantum of operational expenditure of the Water Grid. For this reason, we have made a provision to supply water to industries through the Water Grid," Mr Rama Rao said.