A party constituted as part of the Swachh Hyderabad campaign to identify civic issues, has recommended replacement of age-old water and sewer pipelines (Nizam-era pipelines) in the city.
The committee comprising of ministers, MLAs, GHMC commissioner and HMWS&SB managing director which had received many complaints regarding water pollution, has suggested constitution of an expert committee to study pollution and leakages.
The committee, which, visited several areas in the city also recommended waiver of nearly Rs 75 crore water dues from slum-dwellers pending for several years.
In a report submitted, officially all households in Greater Hyderabad are supposed to receive safe drinking water, but over 40 per cent households in the city do not get potable water that meets international guidelines since water is supplied using ancient pipelines belonging to Nizam era.
Water supplied through these ancient pipelines is prone to contamination and pollution due to leakages. Also, at least 60 percent of the water supplied is lost due to these leakages.
“There is a need to ensure supply of safe drinking water by replacing Nizam-era pipelines. For this, the government has to release Rs 150 crore to the water board to take up the job,” the report said.
“As the committee recommended, we have sanctioned Rs 20 lakh to each operation and maintenance (O&M) division to attend to sewer works and to tackle water pollution,” HMWS&SB director-operations G Rameshwara Rao said.
Works pertaining to laying of sewer trunk mains in Zone- I and Zone-II (Old City and Rajendranagar), which began three years ago, have to be completed on a war footing, while those in Zones-III, IV, V and VI have to be implemented under ‘sewerage master plan’ at a cost of Rs 1,240 crore.