Is the water supply higher in the posh areas for every connection?
1 Jul, 2013
An application was filed with the Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (HMWS&SB) under the Right to Information (RTI) Act seeking to get information about the amount of water supplied by the board to different divisions of the city. The reply from the HMWS&SB shows that the average water supplied per connection was much higher in the posh areas of the city like Gachibowli, Madhapur and Jubilee Hills as compared to most other areas with larger population of middle income and low income groups.
As per the reply, Gachibowli section of division 15 with around 4,600 connections received an average of 71.22 kilolitres (kl) of water per connection in summer and Madhapur of the same division was supplied 62.6 kl per connection which was much higher in comparison to other areas of the same division. Similarly, in division 6, sections like Jubilee Hills and Somajiguda received more water than other areas of the division which includes 15,000 slum connections. The most neglected section was Gowlipura in Old City where there are over 7,000 connections but the average water supplied there amounted to a meagre 15 kl.
The RTI applicant alleged that though the board claims to bill slum consumers only for 15 kl, many slum dwellers have to pay more even if they receive less amount of water.