Wrench tightens on IT zone's unending woes

Hyderabad: Caught between plummeting groundwater and infrequent drinking water supply, residents in the IT zone are paying Rs 1,500 for a 6,000-litre tanker from private suppliers. This is twice the rate they were paying last year. The groundwater level at Gachibowli, Indira-nagar, Nanakramguda, Financial District, DLF, Anjaiahnagar and Kondapur, which constitute the IT zone, has fallen below 1,500 feet. A large number of borewells run dry.

Private water suppliers say their own borewells near Osmansagar are drying up along with the lake. “Almost half the borewells owned by private water suppliers in Kokapet, Gowlidoddi, Nanakramguda and Narsingi have dried up. We have to transport water from Himayat-nagar, Rajendranagar, Shamshabad, Vattinagu-lappalli and Puppal-guda,” said a supplier. “We are paying thousands of rupees as toll fee. We are paying huge rents to farmers for using their land to dig bore-wells and transport has become costlier. It is very difficult to obtain permission to dig a new borewell,” he said, explaining the reason for the hike.

“We paid Rs 700 last summer. It is more than double now. For emergency supply, they are demanding much more, said Mr G. Rammohan Reddy, who operates an accommodation business at Gachibowli. “We are fearful of how high the price will go in the coming months.” He said his apartment had three borewells. “Two of them provide water for 10 minutes every hour. The condition is much worse in some areas,” he added. The Water Board supply remains unreliable. And water connections are not available all over the IT zone.

“The Water Board used to supply water on alternate days. Now we are getting water once in four days. We don’t know when water is supplied, and for how long. Sometimes, it stops in 10 minutes,” said Mr K. Ram Prasad, who has a flat in Gachibowli. “This is not enough and we have to buy water from private suppliers.”