Date:08/09/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/09/08/stories/2008090860430400.htm

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

YSR inaugurates Asia’s biggest STP

Special Correspondent

‘Musi will be a fresh water body soon’

Photo: Mohd. Yousuf

NEW FACILITY: Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy after inaugurating Asia’s biggest STP on Musi river at Amberpet in Hyderabad on Sunday.

Hyderabad: The Musi will no longer be an open sewer. The much polluted river will turn a new leaf soon. “It will become a fresh water body in the next three to four months,” said Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy.

He was inaugurating the Rs. 93.51 crore Sewage Treatment Plant at Amberpet here on Sunday.

The 339 mld STP will treat the raw sewage and release treated water to maintain the river ecology. “This is not just India’s but Asia’s biggest STP,” the Chief Minister said and complimented the Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board for building the plant.

Ministers Koneru Ranga Rao, M. Mukesh Goud, MPs V. Hanumantha Rao, Anjan Kumar Yadav and MLA, G. Kishan Reddy, were present on the occasion.

Later speaking to presspersons, Mr. Kishan Reddy said Central funds of Rs. 236 crore for the STP was released when A.B. Vajpayee was the Prime Minister.

He asked the government to release the treated water for irrigation in the surrounding areas and for industrial usage.