Telangana: Will Bhagiratha water be charged is still a puzzle

Hyderabad: The Telangana state government is still not clear whether or not to charge for the safe drinking water supplied to villages through the Mission Bhagiratha project that is to cost Rs 43,791 crore. 

During a PowerPoint presentation by Chief Secretary S.P. Singh to the Public Accounts Commit-tee, the government said that it would collect charges from industries and urban local bodies, but did not mention rural areas.

The earlier understanding was that the main contractors entrusted with the Mission Bhagiratha work will provide all the infrastructure right up to the a village house. But now it is clear that they will only lay the main pipeline up to a village point from where intra-village pipelines will be constructed by local contractors, who will be nominated. The government also told the PAC that the project will be completed by December 2017, well before its 2018 deadline.

Engineering-in-Chief R. Surender Reddy conveyed to the PAC that the government will initially charge Rs 50 per one kilo litre of water for industries and Rs 20 per kilo litre for urban local bodies.

The ambitious Mission Bhagiratha project envisages drawing 42.67 TMC ft of water from the Krishna and Godavari rivers and major reservoirs by 2018. This will increase to 78 TMC ft by 2048. One hundred litres of treated drinking water per day will be supplied to every rural household and 135 and 150 litres respectively to households in municipalities and municipal corporations. Water will be supplied to 24,248 villages containing 52.47 lakh households, and 65 urban local bodies comprising 12.82 lakh households throughout the state beyond the Outer Ring Road of Hyderabad. 

The Hyderabad Metro Water Supply and Sewerage Board will provide drinking water to the remaining seven urban local bodies (including Hyderabad City), and 183 rural habitations inside the Outer Ring Road.

Reacting on the PowerPoint presentation, PAC chairperson and former minister, Dr J Geetha Reddy, said that the committee is thrilled to see that such a massive project is on track, but they are apprehensive that the water connection network in villages being farmed out to local contractors means that contracts will go to the ruling TRS workers and this will not ensure good quality work. 

She also conveyed to the Government that the PAC will tour the Yellore segment in Mahbubnagar district for an inspection to satisfy itself that the work is being done in accordance with the approved designs and plans. She also expressed serious doubts about repayment of the huge loans government has taken from financial institutions. 

“How is repayment possible? I believe they are saying that for the coming 10 years, maintenance of the system will be taken care of by the mega contracting firms, but what about capital cost and recurring expenditure? Who will bear the cost and how? The government is not clear on this aspect,” she said pertinently.