Supplying water through mobile tankers is a lucrative business for the Water Board, as it earns 600 per cent more revenue than on the same quantity of water supplied by it through its regular piped network. The minimum bill for 15,000 litre of water supplied through taps is Rs 215, while the Board gets as much as Rs 1,200 for the same quantity of water supplied through tankers. It takes three tanker trips, each costing Rs 400 per 5,000 litre of water for domestic consumers. The price for commercial consumers for 5,000 litre is Rs 515 per tanker.
On an average, the Water Board makes about Rs 20 lakh every day through the sale of water through tankers. This revenue crosses Rs 5 crore a month in summer, though the demand falls when the weather is cooler. Citizens accuse the Board of minting money by selling water. “The Board is taking advantage of short supplies to several areas. A CBI enquiry should be ordered,” said advocate Venu Gopal. Mr Sundar Ram Reddy, the Board’s in-charge director (technical), says the Board earns Rs 2 crore per month from tanker water and Rs 50 crore from metered connections. “Though over Rs 5 crore is being earned through sale of tanker water per month in summer, almost 50 per cent of it is shared by the owner of the vehicle on which the tanker is mounted. Of the Rs 400 collected from consumers for 5,000 litre of tanker water, Rs 225 is given to the tanker owner,” he said.
Monsoon likely to reach twin cities by june 10
With the south-west monsoon hitting the Kerala coast on June 5, the monsoon is expected to reach the Rayalseema region of Andhra Pradesh on June 8 and move into Hyderabad on June 10. A drastic fall in daytime temperatures is predicted in the next 48 hours, bringing much-needed respite to the people.
Assistant meteorologist S.V. Rao said, “The monsoon’s advancement seems to be on time and by mid-June, it will cover all of AP. Meanwhile, the heat wave will abate and the temperatures will drop by 2-3ºC in a couple of days.” On Tuesday, the temperatures remained high at Ramagundam (43.8ºC), Machlipatnam (44ºC), Vijayawada (43ºC), Ongole (43.5ºC), Kakinada (43.1ºC) and Nizamabad (42.9ºC). However, Hyderabad at 39.9ºC recorded a slight dip in temperature.