HYDERABAD: Residents of Malakunta Ghodselu (huts) near Exhibition Grounds in Nampally spending their summer struggling to collect water has become something of a yearly ritual.
The basti housing 192 families has only one tap provided by the government which provides water on alternate days. The women lament the frenzy that goes into filling water at the odd hour of 4 am. People say that they stand in a queue to fill water from the tap and later carry the cans to their homes on bicycles or on their shoulders.
A resident Devi says, “We are supposed to receive water supply between 4 to 6.30 am and 2 to 3.30 pm everyday. But, on an average, we receive the supply only 15 days in a month. Though we have never ended up without water but the restricted supply and obligation to get up at 4.30 pm and rushing to the tap and carrying so many heavy cans of water back home from the end of the basti is a too much. A lot of time we end up not being able to pay attention to our kids in the morning hours as we are busy filling water. This makes them late for school very often.”
On some days, the bastis receive the supply only once in a day, instead of twice. Another local Goriya Naik says, “Struggle for water has been a problem in our basti for 20 years. On tough days, we walk with many water cans to the tap at Exhibition Grounds, owned by the Water Board. It is a kilometre-long walk for us. However, now the management there doesn’t allow us to get water from there.”