SANGAREDDY: Never in its history has the Manjeera reservoir dried up. The river, which catered to the drinking needs of Hyderabad, and irrigation and drinking needs of parts of Medak district, now stands a testimony to the drought conditions prevailing in Medak district.
The district administration has already stopped supply of water to Hyderabad and now it is facing severe problem in ensuring potable water to villages in Medak. The situation turned so bad that authorities have to drill borewells in the river bed, construct a canal and pump water to the intake wells to supply water to the habitations in the district.
Severe scarcity of water has arisen due to scanty rainfall which has ruined the life of people in the district. This is the first time in the history such a situation has arisen in the district making life miserable for people and causing headache to the administration. This has led to even migration of people to other districts for livelihood.
Water crisis, which is usually experienced in March and April, reared its head in December itself this year. People are worried that if the situation is so severe in the winter, then what lies in store for them in summer. The government machinery is trying hard to supply drinking water once in three days to the people of the district and their efforts are succeeding to an extent.
There are 2,438 habitations in the district which include village panchayats, attached villages and thandas. According to official figures, 1,935 village panchayats and 75 percent of rural population in the district are facing acute shortage of drinking water.
Whenever drought occurred in the past, people did not experience drinking water scarcity thanks to Manjeera but the river has dried up due to the consecutive drought spell. So alarming is the scenario that 90 pc of the river has not a drop of water, an unprecedented event.
Officials used to supply drinking water from the river to hundreds of villages under various schemes but are supplying to just 319 now, that too after drilling some borewells. But 200 villages are without drinking water as even borewells are not yielding water. In the Narayankhed area water is supplied from borewells dug near the intake wells which are related to 20 schemes.
Manjeera water used to be supplied to 68 villages in Zaheerabad constituency, 44 villages in Andole constituency, 74 villages in Narayankhed constituency, 30 villages in Patancheru constituency but now water is being pumped from the borewells drilled in the river bed. Six borewells were drilled at Shapur in Narayankhed constituency, six in Guduru, eight in Chalki and three at Khadirabad in Kondapur mandal in Sangareddy constituency. Officials are worried that it is uncertain how much these borewell water will last. Manjeera water used to be supplied to many villages in Sangareddy, Narsapur, Gajwel, Dubbak, Medak constituencies and currently a majority of the villages in these constituencies are in severe water crisis. The 45 villages in Dubbak constituency are being supplied drinking water by tankers. Rural water supply department Siddipet divisional engineer M Srinivas Chary said Siddipet Assembly constituency will not have any drinking water problem but 96 villages in the division may face scarcity.
The daily supply of lakhs of gallons of water to Hyderabad in the past ignoring the needs of Medak people drew a lot of criticism and led to public representatives building pressure on Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao which led to the halt of the supply of Manjeera water to Hyderabad.
Officials think the available water will be sufficient for at least two months. Rural water supply scheme superintending engineer Chakravarthy said proposals worth Rs 17.33 crore had been forwarded to the state government to tackle the water crisis. He said they have to supply water to 492 villages through tankers, agricultural bores in 1,254 villages are to be taken on lease and want to flush, deepen bores in 11,773 habitations.
Central team to Compile Report
Nalgonda: A central team constituted to study and prepare report on drought situation in Nalgonda will visit Malkapuram village of Yadagirigutta mandal and Kammagudem of Alair on Monday. It will inspect dried up crops and interact with farmers to know their troubles. Officials will escort the team.
