HYDERABAD: The state government is yet to provide piped water connections to the Gaddapotharam gram panchayat, where ground water has been rendered useless due to polltion caused by pharma firms.
The only drinking water sources currently are a few Reverse Osmosis plants installed by the pharma companies in each of the four villages. The one installed in Kistaiahpally is dysfunctional due to technical problems. The responsibility of pharma companies, however, ended with the installation of these plants. The burden of maintanance, which is a costly affair, is now on the gram panchayat. It shells out about Rs 10,000-Rs 15,000 a month maintaining these units.
The villagers buy water from these units at the rate of Rs 5 per 20 litres. Some avail a card for `100 to get 20 litres a day for a month. The real trouble, however, is in summer when these plants are unable to meet the demand. People are forced to queue up for water early in the morning or have to buy cans from the market at a much higher price.
“The money we collect from the villagers is used to maintain the plants,” says K Giri, operator of the RO plant. “Sometimes, when the membranes used in the plant get damaged, we have to spend over `1 lakh to replace them. This money comes from the gram panchayat’s budget.”There are about 40 functional pharma companies in Gaddapotharam gram panchayats that have the consent to operate issued by the TSPCB. However, none of them have come forward to support the villagers for having polluted their water.