Minister gets it direct: Mission Bhagiratha runs dry

Hyderabad: Sarpanches from several districts across the state aired woes over the drinking water crisis in villages this summer before the minister for panchayat raj and rural development Errabelli Dayakar on Friday.

The minister was holding a video conference with sarpanches and officials of Mission Bhagiratha to take stock of the drinking water situation.

The minister said the state government is the only one in the country providing tap water to each and every household through Mission Bhagiratha, the sarpanches got up to say the ground reality was entirely different.

They said Mission Bhagiratha was facing frequent pipeline damages and leakages, due to which water supply got disrupted. The repair works were taking too long, forcing people to opt for private tankers or bottled water suppliers. This was imposing a heavy financial burden on them, they said.

If the state government is providing tap water to all households through Mission Bhagiratha, why were private tankers and bottle water suppliers flourishing in villages, the sarpanches asked the minister.

The government also received praise from sarpanches of a few districts where there was no disruption to Mission Bhagiratha water supply.

They said their villages used to face acute water shortage in summer but Mission Bhagiratha has alleviated their woes.

Dayakar Rao asked Mission Bhagiratha officials to try and resolve these issues at the earliest. He also asked officials to ensure adequate water reserves in reservoirs for the next five months for Mission Bhagiratha, in coordination with irrigation officials.