Hyderabad: Irrigation Minister T. Harish Rao said that the Central Government should give more importance to drinking water schemes under the National Water Policy.
Harish Rao said that the State Government has been trying to meet the water needs by supplying drinking water through various reservoirs in the State. He said Mission Bhagiratha was the major initiative launched by the government to ensure supply of safe drinking water to all households in the State.
Addressing a review meeting on Kaleshwaram, Yellampalli and Mid-Maniar projects here on Monday, the minister said drinking water could be supplied to Hyderabad and its outskirts on permanent basis from Kaleshwaram project via Yellampalli and Mid-Maniar reservoirs.
The officials told minister that the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad were facing scarcity of water for the last two-three years due to less storage in Nagarjuna Sagar, Singoor, Himayat Sagar and Osman Sagar. However, they said that the shortage was met through supply of 10 TMC of water from Yellampalli.
They said another reservoir of 20 TMC was being constructed near Keshavpuram to meet future needs. They said that the Detailed Project Report for this reservoir was ready and works would be initiated soon.
The officials further said that the Mission Bhagiratha works would be completed by December this year.
The review meeting was attended by Irrigation Department Principal Secretary S.K. Joshi, Engineer-in-Chief Muralidhar, Kaleshwaram Project Chief Engineer Hari Ram, HMWSSB Executive Director Shyam Sunder and other officials. (INN)