Hyderabad to lose Manjira water to Bhagiratha

HYDERABAD: The city will no longer get Manjira water. With the Telangana government now tapping Manjira water for its flagship programme ‘Mission Bhagiratha’ and supply potable water to Sangareddy and nearby districts, the residents of Greater Hyderabad will have to depend on other sources.
With this, the twin cities, will no longer survive on it, which in the past has used Manjira water for nearly five decades. Till as recently as 2005, property owners in the city used to display to-let boards with ‘Manjira water available’ USP.
In 2014 itself, chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao had stated that Manjira water would be utilised exclusively for irrigation and drinking water purposes after completion of the Krishna phase-III and Godavari phase-I projects.
With these two projects completed, the CM reportedly gave instructions to the Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (HMWS&SB) in December last to stop Manjira supplies to the city permanently. As a result, the city residents would now have to completely depend on Krishna and Godavari water.
“The water board had been supplying 120 million gallons of water per (MGD) from the Manjira/Singur reservoirs, two of the five drinking water sources, to the city. According to water board records, nearly 3.50 lakh of the 9.02 lakh connections in two GHMC circles RC Puram and Kukatpally and certain areas like Banjara Hills, Jubilee Hills, SR Nagar, Yousufguda, Somajiguda and other areas had been get Manjira water,” sources in HMWS&SB told TOI.
Due to the government’s decision, Manjira water has now been restricted to non-GHMC areas like Manikonda, Puppalaguda and a few areas, including Vikarabad and Sangareddy. Of the 120 MGD of Manjira water, 32 MGD was allotted to Mission Bhagiratha and another 39 to non-GHMC areas. At present, water board has been supplying 49 MGD to non-domestic customers, he added.
In fact, the chief minister had permitted to supply Manjira water to the city last September after water levels in Singur and Manjira reached full tank level (FTL) to meet the demand due to bountiful rain in Telangana. “We were happy as the city received water from Manjira after five years. However, the government now has asked the water board to stop supplies to the city,” official.
When contacted, chief general manager-Transmission Circle, HMWS&SB, B Vijay Kumar Reddy, said, “We have stopped Manjira water supplies to the city in December on the instructions of the government as it wants to use the water for Mission Bhagiratha and irrigation in Sanagreddy and Medak districts.
To compensate Manjira water, the water board has been supplying Godavari and Krishna water through ‘reverse’ method.
Due to the government’s decision, Manjira water has now been restricted to non-GHMC areas like Manikonda, Puppalaguda and a few areas, including Vikarabad and Sangareddy