The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Water shortage tells on NIT schedule

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jul 21, 2004

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Water shortage tells on NIT schedule

By Our Staff Reporter

WARANGAL, JULY 20. The National Institute of Technology (NIT) was forced to delay its academic schedule due to acute of shortage of drinking water. The classes that were supposed to commence by mid-July are now postponed to August 2.

The Warangal Municipal Corporation has expressed inability to supply its share of 3.5 lakh litres against the actual demand of 6.5 lakh litres per day to the NIT. The NIT had been tapping its own groundwater resources to make for the rest of the 6.5 lakh litres.

About 2,000 students who live in various hostels and about 400 families residing on the NIT campus need 6.5 lakh litres per day against which the NIT was to supplement to the extent of 3 lakh litres per day from its existing borewells. Now it was forced to go in for three more borewells as the municipal corporation was not in a position to maintain its supplies any more.

The institute management says that the employees and students living on the campus have to be ready for stringent measures. Restricted hours of supplies, stoppage of fresh water to gardens and tapping of rainwater are some of the measures being contemplated by the authorities.

The NIT director, D K Tripathy, said there was no permanent solution to the problem. "We have asked for a dedicated line of drinking water from Subedari tank. But the municipal corporation officials said they were already burdened by the domestic demand,'' he explained.

Though the NIT authorities planned to purchase from private suppliers, withdrew the idea as they were not sure of the quality of the water. "It is a government institution and many students live here. We cannot take risk,'' Prof Tripathy said.

With the drinking water shortage haunting the prestigious institution, the NIT's future, which was expected to be upgraded as Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) appears to be bleak.

Meanwhile, the Mayor, T Rajeshwar Rao, left with the corporators of different political parties to Delhi to discuss the drinking water crisis with Central Government officials.

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