Alkapur residents conduct 3K Run demanding safe drinking water

Hyderabad: Around 1,500 Alkapur residents participated in a 3K run, demanding safe drinking water, on Sunday. Residents have been demanding for, and living without, a proper drinking water connection line for the past six years. They are dependent on private water suppliers and groundwater sources.

The residents have always proposed four interconnected demands. The first two are the establishment of Sports Park tank and make operational the Netaji Park sump. Besides, they have requested for water supply to the two tanks, and then supply water from the two containers to their apartments via tankers.

Alkapur is located eight kilometres away from Hitec city and comes under Manikonda municipality. The residents have been continually demanding for a water connection from the municipality, as they have been paying massive amounts to private tankers. According to their estimates, for the past three years, 20,000 residents in the area have spent Rs 18 crore buying water from private tankers. Due to the high demand for water in the area, the residents mentioned that private tankers raised their price, and they had to spend Rs 2,500 for 5,000 litres of water.

The groundwater level has also fallen to 2,000 feet in the area, making the water highly contaminated. Hence, residents are also spending a lot to treat the water.

While speaking to NewsMeter, Manoj Kumar, a resident, said, “The 3K run was a tremendous success. We hope that with this event, we could elicit some action from concerned officials and elected representatives.”

Previously this month, around 200 children from Alkapur wrote letters to Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan, and M Dana Kishore MD of Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (HWSSB), demanding a water connection.