Visakhapatnam tankers misusing water

VISAKHAPATNAM: Municipal water tankers are being allegedly diverted to commercial establishments by unscrupulous operators. People in colonies allege that they hardly get tanker supplies though they see many tankers moving in the vicinity. The city municipal corporation has received several complaints against tanker operators.
DSRK Prasad, a retired employee of Naval Science and Technological Laboratory (NSTL), said free water tankers are being misused.Quite often the water is sold to hotels and business houses, thus robbing the poor citizens of their quota. "We have video evidence to prove the charge," he said demanding that the civic body should keep a tight vigil on diversion of water tankers.
NMA Patrudu, resident of Ravindra Nagar, alleges that even tankers meant for watering avenue plantation are diverted to hotels and commercial complexes. This has led to drying up of trees in many areas.
The civic body has proposed to set up GPS tracking system in water tankers to keep a tab on their movement. But so far it has remained on paper.
A senior official, however, denied diversion of water tankers. "We keep a watch on the movement of vehicles. So the question of diversion does not arise," he claims.
GVMC superintending engineer (water supply) T Moses Kumar admitted that there may be instances of misuse of water tankers. "We will take stern action against the drivers responsible," he said.
He said the civic body will soon introduce GPS in water tankers. "The civic body supplies water to various localities through tankers, which make about 200 trips daily," Moses Kumar added.