The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : SCB to hand over baton to water board

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Dec 06, 2004

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

SCB to hand over baton to water board

By Our Staff Reporter

HYDERABAD, DEC. 5. Drinking water woes of the Cantonment area may soon ease, with the Secunderabad Cantonment Board (SCB) deciding to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Hyderabad Metropolitan Water and Sewerage Board (HMWSSB) for taking over water supply and maintenance.

The Congress MP, S. Satyanarayana, said this here on Sunday at an interactive meeting with colony residential welfare associations of the area. He announced the decision after taking the majority opinion of people who gathered for the programme and listening to their complaints on inadequate and irregular water supply.

Orderly supply

Cantonment Board officials were asked to expedite the process in the next fortnight to enable the water board to commence operations from April 1 next year. "The water board is better equipped to handle the supply operations as it has the necessary staff and expertise. It will be easy to take new connections through the single window scheme and the supply through water tankers will be cheaper and more orderly," he pointed out.

The SIddipet MP also assured new water connections to ration cardholders, pink or white, at a subsidised price in the light of the controversy over the cards. At least 10-lakh gallons of extra water would be supplied to the area once the Angadipet project to bring Krishna water to it and other surrounding municipalities was completed. The SCB would contribute Rs. 2.7 crores for the project.

Special grade status

Converting the civilian part of the SCB into a special grade municipality could be considered, but discussions were needed before a final decision was taken, he said. The Congress MP said the proposed changes in the Cantonment Act could include more powers to elected representatives, ex-officio member status to MLAs and MPs of the area, direct election to the vice-president post and elections to wards on party symbols.

The SCB Executive Officer, T. Arockianathan, explained that the board's problems were peculiar and not faced by any other 62 boards in the country because of the presence of 3,000 acres of private land. "The civilian area itself has grown into a size of a municipality. But, lack of scientific planning has brought forth many problems," he said.

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