GUNTUR: Several people in the faraway areas and villaged merged with GMC are reportedly facing water scarcity. Currently, the population of the city is around 10 lakh and about 125 million gallons of water is being supplied to the people each day, which is far from sufficient.
Water problems were reported at Gujjanagunda, SVN Colony, and merged villages. In order to resolve the water problems, the officials are making proposals to increase the capacity of Sangam Jagarlamudi Head Water Works. The entire city gets water from Takkellapadu and Sangam Jagarlamdui plants.
In 2010, 10 villages were merged with GMC, including Gorantla, Reddypalem, Pedapalakaluru, Nallapadu, Chowdavaram, Naidupet, Potturu, Ankireddypalem, Etukuru, Budampadu villages. Since then, the civic body has been providing drinking water through water tankers. In 2019, under the AMRUT scheme, a drinking water project was initiated at Gorantla with `33 crore. The 53 MLD-project includes a 10-km pipeline and two reservoirs—one with 600 KL capacity and another with 4,200 KL capacity.
Due to various reasons, including delay in getting required permissions, unavailability of suitable land, and the Covid-19 pandemic, the project got delayed. The villagers are hoping for the project to be completed as about 2.34 lakh people will get sufficient water. Recently, Commissioner Keerthi Chekuri inspected the progress of works and instructed officials to complete the remaining works at the earliest.