Hyderabad: The Water Board is losing crores of rupees due to illegal water connections in the IT corridor.
Board officials and others estimate that there are nearly 2,500 commercial establishments in the IT corridor, apart from IT firms. The Board’s record shows 1,189 commercial connections, and 40,000 dom-estic, industrial and bulk supply units.
Board officials suspect that about 1,000 commercial establishments are illegally using water from domestic connections.
The IT corridor, which is covered by Water Board's division 15, has 41,000 connections and earns about Rs 10 crore every month, of which Rs 8 crore is collected from the 1,189 commercial and 200 bulk supply units, including IT firms. If all connections are billed correctly, the board will get nearly Rs 3 crore more.
The illegal connections came to light when minister K.T. Rama Rao found there were only 35,000 commercial connections in the city. On his directions, a survey is now being held to identify illegal connections.
General manager P. Venkateswar Rao said the government has taken up a “360 degree survey” based on the record of commercial establishments with the electricity, GHMC and commercial taxes departments. He said the board was expecting to add 800 commercial units.
The survey has identified 1,600 commercial establishments with domestic connections in Erragadda, Jubilee Hills and Banjara Hills, under Division-6. The survey is being undertaken in the Old City.
