Water connection to get costlier for city outskirts

■ 12 municipalities, 190 villages will have to pay charges as collected from the core city

Getting a tap water connection will get costlier for residents living in peripheral municipalities and

190 habitations within the outer ring road (ORR). They will begin paying rates which are levied in the core city area.

For residents in LB Nagar, Gaddiannaram, Uppal, Malkajgiri, Kapra, Alwal, Qutubullapur, Kukatpally, Serilingampally, Rajendranagar, Ramachandrapuram and Patancheru, the price of a new water connection will range from `2,500 to `15 lakh based on the area of the plot.

This will affect 10 lakh families once the Urban Development Corporation Limited and Urban Development Corporation Limited (Hudco) and urban Mission Bhagiratha are completed. The water board has already brought

6,000 consumers into HMWS&SB’s revenue net.

According to sources, the water board supplies bulk (tanker) water to the 12 municipalities. The board charges `500 per tanker of 5,000 litres, which serves the drinking water needs of a maximum of 24 flats.

The HMWSSB supplies water every alternate day and the tanker cost is shared among residents which would be `312.5 per month. The HMWSSB has recently taken over supplying water from the Rural Water Supply (RWS) department and is supplying drinking water to 190 villages within ORR limits. Sources said that only nominal charges of around `100-150 have been collected from villagers based on their consumption. They said with both urban Mission Bhagiratha and Hudco works are nearing completion, and residents living in peripheral municipalities and habitations within the ORR must be prepared to pay heavy charges for their tap water connection.

Earlier, the water board had taken on the responsibility of providing water to peripheral municipalities by constructing 56 reservoirs with distribution networks at an estimated cost of `1,900 crore, of which 1,400 crore would be provided by Hudco and

`400 would be borne by the state government. However, the government later decided to extend the project to ORR villages, and undertook `738 crore works under urban Mission Bhagiratha where

183 reservoirs and distribution network would be laid to provide drinking water to 190 villages by laying 2,000 km of pipeline for both projects.

Against this backdrop, the HMWS&SB has decided to collect the same charges from the 12 municipalities and 190 villages as collected in the core city. A senior water board official said that like ‘one nation one tax’ the water connection charges will be uniform within ORR limits. He said that the water board cannot discriminate between core city residents and residents living on the outskirts and HMWS&SB has already given 6000 connections within ORR limits. The official also said that the water board would immediately provide water connections after completion of urban Mission Bhagiratha and Hudco works. “We have already asked the local bodies to find out the number of connections required in a particular area and submit the same to the HMWS&SB to provide water connection,” he added.

The official said the water connection charges would vary from `2,500 to `15 lakh based on the area and nature of construction.

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