HYDERABAD: Hyderabad's Water Board has started providing up to 20,000 litres of drinking water per month free of cost to domestic households from the first week of December. As many as 9.84 lakh households will benefit under the scheme.
The Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (HMWS&SB) will incur about Rs 35-40 crore per month or Rs 400 crore per annum by supplying the water, which would be reimbursed by the State government. "We are fulfilling the promise made by Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao last month to supply drinking water to households living in Greater Hyderabad limits," a senior Water Board officials told The New Indian Express.
Officials said that till orders and guidelines are issued by the State government, the Board will continue to supply water to eligible consumers, which was started from December 5.
For households that consume about 20 kl litres per month, the monthly bill comes up to around Rs 320-325, which will be waived off. A team of Water Board officials visited Delhi to study the model being deployed there.
To ensure that every household gets 20 kL litres water, the Board is drawing an additional 90 million gallons of water per day (MGD) from Singur, Manjira, Himayatsagar and Osmansagar reservoirs. The Board is now drawing 536 MGD of water daily from these reservoirs.
If consumers claim that they are not getting 20 kL of water, the same would be proved through readings of the water metre at their homes. If the houses don’t have the metres, the Board will install them. Some managers will be appointed to monitor the supply.
Eligible beneficiaries should furnish proof of possession of an Aadhaar number or undergo Aadhaar authentication as per the orders of the State government.