Telangana CM asks officials to take precautions to avoid drinking water crisis during summer

Hyderabad: Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy on Thursday directed officials to take all precautions to ensure that no drinking water crisis arises during the coming summer season.

He held a review on drinking water supply during summer with Ministers and officials in the wake of water levels reaching 'dead storage levels' at many reservoirs due to deficit rainfall this year, an official release said.

The officials explained to the CM the details of water storage in reservoirs and the quantity of water required for drinking purposes in the state.

The Chief Minister instructed the officials to prepare a comprehensive action plan for the supply of drinking water to every household in tribal habitations, villages and urban areas.

The action plan would be prepared together by the Irrigation, Municipal Administration, Panchayat Raj and drinking water supply departments.

"Officials explained to the Chief Minister that Andhra Pradesh is lifting more than 9 TMC of water from Nagarjuna Sagar for drinking water needs," it said.

The Chief Minister asked the officials to take a proper assessment of the utilisation of water (by AP) and ensure that water is not diverted for other purposes, it said.

He told the officials to review in detail the requirement of water and write a letter to the Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) seeking permission to draw water from Nagarjuna Sagar and Srisailam projects for drinking purposes.

The officials told the CM that the state did not face any water crisis in the past as the Jurala project was filled with rain water during April and May.

Otherwise, the state would have to request the Karnataka government for release of water from Narayanpur reservoir. The state drew water from the Narayanpur reservoir three years ago, it said.

The CM suggested to the officials to write a letter to KRMB first for drawing water and consider the request for water release from Karnataka as the last option.

He also directed the officials to ensure that there is no problem with regard to drinking water supply within the Greater Hyderabad City Corporation (GHMC ) limits.

Meanwhile, the CM warned that action would be taken against power officials who are negligent in discharging their duties sincerely resulting in power supply disruptions.

"CM Revanth Reddy said it has come to his notice that some people are conspiring to bring bad name to the government by spreading misinformation on power supply," an official release said.

The CM warned of strict action against such officers and the staff and alerted the energy officials to counter the misinformation campaign on power cuts despite the increase of electricity supply, the release added.