HYDERABAD: While the city desperately faces the need to adopt water conservation techniques like constructing Rainwater Harvesting (RWH) pits, the Secunderabad Cantonment Board (SCB) has hardly made any efforts to promote the cause in its jurisdiction. Though setting up RWH pits is mandatory to grant building permissions under SCB limits, neither residents nor officials are serious about it. The negligence of SCB administration has been so glaring that in spite of making resolutions for constructing the pits two years ago, the basic groundwork has not been laid by the board until now.
"Protecting environment is a collective responsibility. Unfortunately we shy away from it. While the SCB continues to grant building permissions sans the mandatory RWH pits due to various reasons, the officials are lackadaisical in installing RWH in public places, which is a cause of concern," said PSRA Sarma, president of Sancharpuri Resident Welfare Association.
Though RWH was taken up by the SCB at a few public places like Mudfort Grounds and Bowenpally Grounds, these pits remain in dilapidated condition, due to official apathy. As an oasis in the desert, while one lakh rupees was granted for each ward under board limits for setting up RWH pits in public places two years ago, till now no work has been done in this regard.
The inactivity of SCB in this case has pained environmentalists. "Secunderabad has good scope for taking up rainwater harvesting topographically. We are facing the punishment for our wrongdoings in the form of drought. At least now SCB should start focussing on taking up RWH measures. We have already proved that RWH can yield good results by constructing pits at Naval Office in Secunderabad," opined Subash Chandra Reddy, an RWH activist.
SCB vice president S Keshava Reddy said that rainwater harvesting will be taken up for discussion on priority basis in the board meting to be held in the first week of May and steps will be initiated for setting up pits soon.