Hyderabad: Stating that Mission Bhagiratha will not be offered for free, Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao on Friday said that the government will seek public opinion on the charges to be collected for supplying purified drinking water once the project is completed in 2018. Speaking in the Legislative Assembly, Mr Rao said the government was spending nearly Rs 37,000 crore to supply tap water to every household every day by laying over 1.25 lakh km long pipeline network from Krishna and Godavari rivers. The funds are being mobilised through bank loans.

Once completed, the government will incur huge expenditure towards maintenance and operational costs besides payment of interest on loans. The operational costs are estimated at nearly Rs 1,000 crore per year.

“Initially, we will collect charges from industries. There is a special provision to supply water to industries. Later, we will seek public opinion on charges to be collected from households,” Mr Rao said. The CM expressed confidence that the people will voluntarily come forward to pay for Mission Bhagiratha once they get assured supply of quality water, every day.