Hyderabad: Toilets fixed, but there's no water

Hyderabad: Kondapur Vaddera Basti in the IT zone has been declared as a 100 per cent Open Defecation-Free habitation as all the 60 households have toilets.
However, no one is using the toilets as there is no water.

Ranga Reddy collector M. Raghunandan Rao visited the area twice and recommended construction of CC roads and toilets. He persuaded the families to construct toilets using Swachh Hyderabad funds.

The government has released Rs 12,000 for the construction of each toilet and beneficiaries paid about Rs 5,000 apart from construction. As per the plan, locals constructed two pits (septic tanks) and a toilet.

Welfare association president E. Mahesh said the construction of toilets was completed within a month of the collector’s first visit. “We have toilets now. But, we are unable to use them due to the lack of water. The GHMC sends a 5,000-litre capacity tanker every week which is not enough,” he said.

Mr V. Balaraju, a local, said the water is stored in an underground tank. “People lift water using a bucket. Quarrels break out between women for water. We need at least 15,000 litres of water per day,” he said.

As per Indian norms, each person should have at least 135 litres of water per day. Here, people have to make do with 40 litres a week. And they do this by avoiding the toilets.

Ms E. Shankaramma, a local, said the water which was being supplied by the GHMC was not for drinking. “We buy 20-litre purified drinking water cans at Rs 20. We can get the water at Rs 10 if we go to the water plant which is half-a-kilometre away. Due to the lack of water, we are unable to use the toilets,” she said.