No water tariff hike in SCB now

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The Secunderabad Canton-ment Board is likely to spare residents within its limits from an immediate drinking water tariff hike.

The elected ward members, led by vice-president B. Narmada, deferred their decision to increase water charges till the dispute with the Water Board is resolved.

The elected members also said a decision on the quantum of hike will be taken only after the meeting with the Chief Minister and after the resolution of the dispute.

The Water Board is supplying water to the Cantonment at the rate of Rs 13.50 per kilo litre (KL). The Cantonment, in turn, supplies water to the residents at Rs 7.50 per KL. The Cantonment has been asking the Water Board to reduce the price from Rs 13.50 to Rs 10 per KL, a rate at which it is supplying water to domestic consumers in Greater Hyderabad under the 15 KL category. The Water Board is yet to agree on the proposal.

The Cantonment Board president, Brigadier Sunil S. Bodhe, expressing shock over the difference in the tariffs at which water is supplied to the Canton-ment and to the Greater Hyderabad, said, “Even the people of Cantonment areas are citizens of this city. How can the Water Board levy a higher water tariff on the Cantonment and lesser in Greater Hyderabad? This issue needs to be seriously taken up with the state government.”

The ward members, along with defence officials and others, decided to meet Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy, who is is also the chairman of the Water Board, and other senior officials of the Board.