SCB-water board strife puts 4 lakh citizens in deep water

SECUNDERABAD: Over four lakh Cantonment residents are caught in a tussle between two government agencies — Secunderabad Cantonment Board (SCB) and HMWSSB — over supply of water on alternate days. Though SCB wanted the water board to enhance supplies as demand has increased steeply in the Cantonment, it failed to pay connection charges and blamed HMWSSB for it woes.
Like previous years, this summer too residents have experienced interrupted water supply and woes continued due to supplies once in four days. Moreover, unexpected shutdowns also hampered supplies to the Cantonment.

“Every summer, SCB water wing officials claim water woes will come to an end soon. This drama has been continuing for over three decades. We will get rid of water woes and resolve issues once Cantonment areas get merged into GHMC,” B Jagannatha Rao, a resident of Trimulgherry, told TOI.
N Shyamala, a resident of Rasoolpura tail-end area, said: “After the five-year term of the elected body of the Cantonment Board got over, no one bothers about our woes. Like previous summers, I had to spend a lot of money on water cans.”
SCB water wing officials claim they overcame water crisis with the summer action plan. On ground, however, residents of 350 residential colonies lamented about short and interrupted supplies.
Ahead of summer, SCB officials had urged HMWS&SB to enhance supplies from the existing 5.9 million gallons a day (MGD) to 7.3 MGD. HMWS&SB officials, however, asked the Cantonment Board to pay 17 crore towards connection charges. SCB officials had even submitted a report on reallocation of water to pump houses, keeping in view the total agreed enhancement of quantity to 7.3 MGD. But, Cantonment Board could not pay connection charges to HMWS&SB due to financial crunch.
Meanwhile, Aadhaar authentication to avail the popular 20-KL free water supply scheme in the Cantonment was continuing at a steady pace. As of now, 12,000 of 30,000 consumers had registered their Aadhaar for availing the free water scheme (FWS).
Refusing to respond on supply of 7.3 MGD to the Cantonment, HMWS&SB officials claimed they could not supply the quantity due to some unexpected technical glitches.