Community Monitored Hardware Installation and Management

Virat Nagar is a basthi located in Kapra cluster under Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) administration, Hyderabad city, Telangana. Most of this slum Dwellers are mainly daily wage labourers/auto drivers and garbage collectors. The houses are mostly pucca and semi-pucca. Ramesh lives in virat nagar with his wife and 2 children. He is the only earning member in the family. Earlier many households in Virat Nagar do not have individual bore water supply connections, they collected water from public taps or neighbourhood houses. But a recent renovation effort by the SaciWATERs with assistance from WaterAid India installed a bore water pump with a yard connection to 33 households of which now they could be able to draw 500litres of water every day. This case study tries to capture the community monitored hardware installation which has brought changes in its operation and maintenance before and after the renovation of bore water pump. Many of the households in Virat Nagar do not have individual water connections from municipality. very few households in this colony have a municipal water supply connection to their houses which was constructed by their own money, rest of the households who do not have a connection are collecting water from public taps or from the households who have a water supply connection which is about 35-50m away using a water pipe from their houses. The basthi people have consulted the municipality many a times and submitted representations regarding the individual bore water supply connections but the issue was not solved.

The residents of Virat Nagar colony have come up with an idea by mobilising the households to set up an bore / motor at each lane for water supply to families who do not have a connection. Only 15 households have come forward by contributing Rs1000/- to Rs 1500/- per each household and installed bore water pump motor (minimal pressure) by taking permission from Mayor. This bore water supply is given only to those 15 households and they have collectively monitored this installation and operation & maintenance has been taken by their own. During their operation they released the water for 30mins for each lane and households could able to draw only 200-260 litres of water each day. “Sometimes there was no proper timings maintained in water supply and couldn’t handle the water usage properly which is resulted in disputes between residents”  says Ramesh. Later with an SaciWATERs intervention in the communities the citizen platform ‘Basthi Vikas Manch’ which aims to analyze the gaps and needs of people and have come up with a solution for the community with a consensus. After identifying the water supply connection issues in the slum, meetings were organized internally with the community and after a series of meeting, it was decided to install a bore water pump (with a greater pressure than before), individual water supply connection was given to 33 households (previous it was for 15 households when community monitored) by SaciWATERs, BVM with an assistance from WaterAid. Now, 33 households of virat nagar could able to draw about 500 litres of water every day with a greater pressure. It will be operated and shared among the households, including its maintenance responsibility. Now these households have hired a person for operating this motor in a systematic manner to make sure all the 33 households are getting equal amount of water. Most of the households in viratnagar have individual toilets expect for very few houses.

Initially many of the households do not have the individual water supply connections they collected water from public taps and stand posts. Present few households have constructed on their own and for few marginalised families SaciWATERs have given water supply connections by installing a bore pump. “After the SaciWATERs, BVM approach , we could see an active participation from the residents in solving Basthi issues and the operation and maintenance of bore water pump is being maintained systematically (before it was not taken care properly)”  says Mr. Ramesh. SaciWATERs team through BVM was able to mobilise these people to make them aware of the WASH. The team also made them aware of their rights to enable sustainable livelihoods through the initiation of citizen’s first for water and sanitation accountability.

This brings to light the many challenges that these residents, owing to their location and their effort to claim the basic amenities that they deserve.