Water scarcity forces hundreds of hostel inmates to vacate across Hyderabad

Hyderabad: Hundreds of hostel inmates vacated their accommodation across Hyderabad and Cyberabad over the past 48 hours amid severe water scarcity, triggering a sharp fall in occupancy and financial concerns among operators.

Students and I T and private employees packed their belongings and left hostels in Gachibowli, Anjaiah Nagar, Ameerpet, Himayat Nagar, Kukatpally and other areas. Some were searching for hostels with reliable water supplies, while others remained stranded.

“We paid our hostel fees for a secure room, not a sudden eviction notices over water scarcity,” said private employee A Deepika.

Mohan Kumar, who joined a hostel three months ago and paid Rs 7,500 a month for another five months, criticised the management’s decision. He said, “Telling us to vacate overnight because the management failed to secure water is completely unfair.”

“We aren’t asking for luxury, just enough water to brush our teeth and survive the week,” said Krishna Reddy, who has stayed at a hostel in SR Nagar for the past year.

Hostel operators said tanker prices had doubled while residents, whose fees funded water purchases, were leaving. They warned of shutdowns and financial collapse unless municipal authorities restored supplies or provided subsidised water.

Operators in Gachibowli said borewells and primary water lines had been exhausted. They alleged that illegal tanker operators and unregulated deep drilling had depleted local aquifers, leaving businesses dependent on costly private water supplies.