Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao’s popular promise, first made in April 2016, was revised during the State Assembly election campaigns during November to December-end of 2018. The promise? “I will not seek votes if we fail to provide tapped drinking water to every household in Telangana under Mission Bhagiratha.”
Then it was re-revised to March 31 in the post-election success meet. And the latest, as stated by Mr. Rao on Friday while presenting the State’s Vote-On-Account Budget in the Assembly, the promise will be met a month later, by April-end, the month of water challenge.
Irrigation officials too express confidence, like the Chief Minister, “and that’s why there is no separate budget this time, for summer action plan for water supply”, they say.
Consider their claim. “Of the nearly 3.94 lakh households in the district, only 9,000 tap connections are pending (97.7% has been achieved), 74% pipeline-laying is complete, and on the whole 72% intra works have been completed, i.e., 1,340 of the total 1,700 villages are covered,” say officials, who assert water will reach all households by March 15, just 20 days away. The ground reality based on progress reports, however, reveals a different picture.
According to a report dated February 21, for the required 1,540 Overhead Service Reservoirs (OHSRs) in Nalgonda, only 870 (56%) have been completed so far.
Labour pains
Poorer is the progress in Suryapet, with the OHSR or the distributory system completion rate at an overall 46%, and Huzurnagar with just 30% works completed is at the bottom. And together, about 1,250 km of the pipeline is yet to be laid. Works relating to bulk supply are complete, excluding one in Chivvemla mandal in Suryapet. According to officials, most pending intra works like tap connections, pipe-laying and OHSR construction were delayed due to shortage of skilled labour and contractor negligence.
“To send a strict message, we have blacklisted such contractors, and have been sourcing labour from districts that are nearing completion. We recorded a leap in the total works, from what was 30% or 40% a few months ago,” Superintending Engineer (Intra) G. Lalitha told The Hindu . And going by the work momentum now, March 15 is a realisable deadline, she added.
However, field supervisors, stressed with completion targets and local problems, have an altogether different story.
“Labour issues, material supply and village disturbances are to be addressed first. Also, hurried construction may lead to quality problems later,” they said.
“For contractors, the completion deadline is still the elections, that are in May 2019 , only Telangana had early elections. And there had been other issues too,” a supervisor requesting anonymity said.
