Tellapur water woes: 2 acre land approved ‘free of cost’ for tank

HYDERABAD: Taking cognisance of a recent TOI report on gated communities in Tellapur fighting to get access to drinking water supply for years, the Telangana State Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (TSIIC) has formally agreed to sanction two acres free of cost to the Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply & Sewerage Board (HMWSSB) to build a water tank.
Sources said that the issue was taken up at minister-level and that upon directions, a formal agreement was made on Monday. “An official notification in this regard will be released soon,” an official said.
The proposal was stuck due to land allocation issues as HMWSSB was ready to build a water tank and had requested TSIIC for land.
However, TSIIC while agreeing to a provisional allocation of the land, demanded 90 lakh per acre (1.8 crore for two) from the water board.
Eventually on July 7, HMWSSB MD Dana Kishore wrote to the industries secretary seeking allocation of ‘free of cost’ instead of payment basis since it is meant for the public at large including for upcoming TSIIC units at Osman Nagar.
“Thousands of residential units are coming up via gated communities at Tellapur. Need for drinking water supply is basic. It is great that the government has finally agreed to sanction the land free of cost and we can hope to see the project start soon,” Tellapur Neighbourhood Association (TeNA) president Ramana Eshwaragari told TOI.