Tenants in Hyderabad Also Eligible For Free Drinking Water

Hyderabad: Good news for Hyderabad city residents as also tenants. You can now avail the Telangana Government's 20 Kilolitre Free Drinking Water scheme.

The Telangana State government has decided to include the tenants living under the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) limits to be eligible for availing the 20 Kilolitres Free Drinking Water scheme.

Tenants will be able to apply online for the scheme, though the connection will be in the name of the owners, as the property tax details are to be taken into account.

In a review meeting with the Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (HMWS&SB), the Telangana government decided to extend the 20 kilolitres Free Drinking water scheme to tenants also under the limits of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC).

As per government guidelines, all domestic-slum, domestic-individual, domestic- multi-storied building (MSB)/bulk connections are eligible for the 20 KL free water supply once they link their customer account numbers (CAN) with Aadhaar as per G.O.Ms. No.211 (Dec 2, 2020).

About 30 lakh households in the city of which 47 percent are occupied by owners if the free drinking water scheme is implemented only for homeowners, who hold property tax identification numbers, it would delay the Aadhaar linkage programme, shared an official. It was then decided that tenants residing in the house can also now upload their Aadhaar details along with the property tax details of the owner, said an official to a leading news agency.

The Telangana government has accordingly issued orders to provide the tenants also with an option for the Aadhaar number linkage with the Customer Account Number (CAN). The Aadhaar linkage can also be done at the MeeSeva centres or through the HMWS&SB website. The Telangana IT wing is still said to be testing the tenant option.

The HMWS&SB has already extended the deadline for installing the water meters through impaneled agencies for availing the Free Water Scheme from March 31st till April end. About 95 percent of connections, excluding commercial and others within GHMC limits, will benefit under the scheme.

Aadhaar linkage in slums has been completed but is progressing at a snail's pace in other areas. As of yesterday, the water supply board has seeded only 1.61 lakh connections with Aadhaar numbers out of a total of 9.84 lakh households.