The Hindu             19.06.2013

Godavari waters for twin cities by August next

The drinking water woes of twin cities will certainly be overcome by August next year with both the Godavari Phase I and Krishna Phase III to be completed by then, Municipal Administration and Urban Development Minister M. Mahidhar Reddy said here on Tuesday.

Seeking to allay misgivings of Congress members M. Ranga Reddy and M. S.Prabhakar Rao in the Legislative Council, the Minister said works were in full swing under both the schemes. Of 186 km long pipeline to be laid to bring Godavari waters from Yellampally barrage in Karimnagar to Ranga Reddy, 126 km pipeline has been laid.

The Minister said there was no dearth of funds for the Rs.3,378 crore project to supply 172 mgd of water for twin cities. While Rs.1,980 crore was sanctioned, Rs.1,280 crore had been spent so far. The HUDCO sanctioned Rs.1,000 crore loan for the project, he told the House.

The Krishna Phase III project would be completed by June, 2014.

From this year, rainwater harvesting would be implemented in the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation area and an action plan had been formulated to improve the ground water table. The HMDA, GHMC and NGOs were working jointly to protect lakes in the twin cities. About 50 to 50 tanks were fenced and full tank levels were being marked to prevent encroachments, he disclosed.