The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Unique way to appease rain god

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Tuesday, Jul 15, 2008
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Unique way to appease rain god

V. Geetanath

Special team from Karimnagar performs ‘marriage’ of frogs

Croak for rain: The ‘marriage’ ceremony of frogs in progress in Secunderabad Cantonment on Monday.

HYDERABAD: Delayed monsoon is giving residents of Secunderabad Cantonment the heebie-jeebies. So alarmed that local leaders decided to propitiate the rain god by performing a marriage of frogs at a temple in Commissary Bazar on Monday.

The wedding was to take place on Sunday but had to be put off when the groom (or was it the bride?!) “ran away”, startled by all the commotion. Enterprising leaders led by SCB Vice-President J. Pratap and others not to take any chances “bundled” the bride and groom before performing the ritual.

“We brought a special team from Karimnagar to perform the marriage,” said Pratap. The wedding party went around some slums where they were worshipped by the womenfolk before the holy matrimony. Fears of a potential water crisis ahead if the monsoon fails are not out of place as people are already facing the pinch.

“We are suffering from water shortage and no rains mean more trouble with most power borewells too having gone dry,” pointed out Pratap. While demand for water is about 40 lakh gallons a day, the SCB is able to supply about 21-22 lakh gallons only.

“We are not getting enough water and supply is for an hour with low pressure,” complained Murthy, a resident. At several places, the supply timing has been cut and made once in three days. Supply through tankers was increased to 75 trips a day is barely sufficient to meet the demand.

SCB is totally dependent on Hyderabad Water Supply and Sewerage Board (HMWSSB) for water and the latter is unable to meet the requirement. Cantonment residents pinned their hopes on the Angadipet project, a 6.6 crore-11 km pipeline work, from which 15 lakh gallons was to be sourced from Singur dam.

But, its work got delayed by a year for a variety of reasons. Now “the entire system is in place and all tests and trial runs have been conducted, we need a good rainfall for water to flow” said SCB CEO V. Premchand. Dog days are ahead if heavens don’t open up, he admits.

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