Severe water crisis haunts government hostels in Nizamabad daily

HYDERABAD: Students of government-run hostels in Nizamabad are facing a different problem — severe water shortage. So much so, some of the students who are doing well in academics are on the horns of a dilemma whether to continue their studies here.
In Nizamabad town, two social welfare hostels have been facing acute shortage of water since the last one year.One is a pre-matric residential institution and another a post-metric hostel. The students have been facing the problem which has been persisting for the last since one year.While drinking water is not an issue, students are feeling the pinch to meet their water needs for bathing and toilet use. Two hostel blocks host post-metric students pursuing junior, degree and PG and technical courses. Due to varying college timings, the students have to leave and come back at different hours.
There is water for preparation of food since the hostels have reverse osmosis plants and for drinking water purposes, cans are fetched. Official sources said several attempts have been made to sink borewells in the two hostels but they did not yield water. An official said that there is no groundwater even up to a depth of 400 ft when attempts were made to sink borewells.
It’s not just the social welfare hostels which are facing a water crisis. Inadequate water supply is felt even by BC hostels though the problem is not as severe as it is in social welfare hostels. Another social welfare hostel for pre-matric students at Konasamudram in Nizamabad is facing the same problem.
“We have trying to manage the water supply situation by tapping into the water resources of other departments and getting water tankers,” an official told TOI.
Officials are trying to temporarily solve the problem through water tankers but long term solutions are not in sight. Officials are looking at the Mission Bhagirath option for the hostels, where water shortage is taking a daily toll on students.
“We are pinning hopes on Mission Bhagiratha to draw water from the tanks through a pipeline and meet the needs of the hostels. Local sarpanches have also assured us of help,” an official said.