Water board out of cash

HYDERABAD: The Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (HMWS&SB) finds itself in a credit trap, so to speak.Government departments and civic bodies, which get regular water supply from the board, have been deferring payment of dues, amounting to Rs. 172 crore, for a long time pushing it into a financial crisis.Sources said the situation was grim enough to be worried about payment of salaries to the staff, leave alone undertake development works. The water board had shot off a series of letters to principal secretaries, secretaries, commissioners and other heads of the various departments requesting them to pay at least a part of the dues.The response, however, has been lukewarm. HMWS&SB officials told City Express that in the absence of a positive response, the only option left for them was disconnection of services. Before resorting to the drastic step, the board has decided to hold a series of meetings with major defaulters from this week.The same has been conveyed to the defaulting departments.The board has identified seven major departments that owe more than Rs. 1 crore each to it. They are: the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation, which is yet to pay a staggering (Rs. 49.40 crore), gram panchayats (Rs. 41.52 crore), Rural Water Supply Scheme (Rs. 29.74 crore), surrounding municipalities of GHMC (`22.84 crore), police department (Rs. 5.78 crore), MES department (Rs. 7.13 crore), Gandhi Medical College and Hospital (Rs. 4.16 crore) and Rajiv Gruha Kalpa (Rs. 4.46 crore).As many as 42 other government departments have to clear arrears to the tune of Rs. 7.35 crore.The matter came up for discussion at the Board of Directors’ meeting chaired by Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy, who is also the Chairman of the HMWS&SB, and the same has been referred to the government for arranging payments from budget provisions of the respective government departments.The water board itself is yet to clear its power bills and it has urged the government departments to pay up soon so that it could continue to maintain its operation and maintenance system without any interruption.