Telangana to face major water crisis in 25 years: Niti Aayog

Hyderabad: Niti Aayog member V.K. Saraswat on Wednesday said the Telangana state government has not supplied adequate water to major defence establishments in the state.

Speaking about the importance of state governments focusing on addressing water shortages at a conference organised by CII here, Dr Saraswat said, “Telangana is going to face a major water problem in the next 25 years... Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL) and the Ordnance Factory in Medak have been denied water supply. The state needs to focus on water.”

Former chief scientific advisor to the government of India Dr Saraswat was in Hyderabad to address the conference on Telangana 2.0: The Growth Story Continues.

Dr Saraswat said governments need to take up waste water recycling and water harvesting in a big way as the country is expected to face serious water shortages after 2025.

Addressing the issue of lack of water for defence establishments, the director, operations, HMWS&SB, Azmeera Krishna, said that on March 13 and March 14, there was a water shutdown for two days following a breakdown at the LB Nagar division. Advance notification was issued two days ahead to BDL and the Ordnance Factory. After repairs, the water supply was resumed and remains unchanged for the two Defence establishments. The HMWS&SB continues to give them 12 and 10 lakh gallons of water respectively.

Though unrelated to the comments of Dr Saraswat, the Telangana state government and the defence ministry were having a running feud for the last few years over Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao’s requisition of Bison Polo Ground for building a new secretariat and some land parcels in Secunderabad Cantonment for widening National Highways that connect Hyderabad with the northern parts of the state.

The Chief Minister had also requested the intervention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on these issues.

Dr Saraswat said state governments must also focus on education and smart cities to make their states future ready.

Referring to the poor foundation learning index of the state, he said the focus should be on school education.