Giving the intolerable condition of the water bodies in the state, Telangana’s 134 Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) will undergo transformation where sewerage and storm water drainage systems are going to be developed.
The cost of the complete project is estimated at Rs. 22,500 crore. It is told to get accomplished within the next two to three years. Finances of Rs. 13,500 crore are approximated for the completion of the sewerage schemes while the storm water drainage network is proposed at around Rs. 9,000 crore which will take place in the 134 ULBs spread across the state. Majority of these works are expected to be grounded during the current financial year of 2020- 2021.
The Public Health and Municipal Engineering Department (PHMED) under the Municipal Administration and Urban Development department are also going to build Sewerage Treatment Plans (STPs) with underground drainage systems in 30 towns. These are the towns which constitute the polluted water supply reaching four rivers limits. Moreover, this project is fast-tracked and going to cost Rs. 2,828 crore.
Formulation, design, preparation and implementation of the water supply will be monitored by the PHME department, along with the sewerage and storm water drainage in 140 ULBs in Telangana, excluding GHMC.
Close to 1,253 million litres of polluted untreated sewage become a part of the water bodies here every single day (MLD).
Telangana Today reported an official of MAUD speaking about the scheme’s details and its progress, “To create safe, hygienic and sustainable towns in the State, an efficient urban sewage and septage infrastructure has become inevitable. Accordingly, detailed project reports have been already prepared for the sewerage and storm water drainage schemes in 59 ULBs. Many of them are in various stages of execution – from draft plans to development of drainage schemes.”
In the year 2019-2020, nearly 11 underground drainage (UGD) projects were adopted by the department which costed Rs. 1,235 crore. Along with this, three UGD rojects in Vikarabad, Karimnagar and Nizamabad were also taken up and have been completed successfully. Siddipet’s UGD project was progressing at an actively fast rate with one of the two proposed STPs being completed.
The official further added that STPs are still in the stage of authorization while the UGD ventures at Khammam, Suryapet, Nagarkurnool, Gajwel-Pragnapur and Devarakonda have commenced and are progressing well.
According to representatives, in the year 2009-2014, the ULB work in Telangana area except GHMC, which belonged to the former Andhra Pradesh, completed only about 580 km of sewer network, one STP with 13 MLD treatment capacity and 15,000 house sewer connections.
However, after the partition and separate entity formation of Telangana, the state government managed to conclude 710 km of sewer network along with the installation of six STPs which had 107 MLD treatment capacities in the year 2014-2019.
Moreover, 1.28 lakh homes were supplied with sewer connections in the duration.
