Visakhapatnam: Andhra’s Largest City Grapples With Severe Water Crisis; 3 Lakh Households Affected

Andhra Pradesh’s largest city, Visakhapatnam, has been grappling with a severe water crisis for over 30 hours after water supply workers went on strike. The disruption has affected over three lakh households and numerous commercial establishments across the city.

Major industries such as HPCL, Coromandel, and Essar, along with key services like hospitals, the Railways, and public sector units including NTPCL, are also struggling due to the lack of water supply.

Although government officials managed to supply water to some extent over the past two days, the situation worsened on Saturday after talks between the striking workers and Mayor Peela Srinivas Rao failed.

The strike has halted water supply in at least 98 wards under the Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC) limits. Pumping from the Yeleru, Tatipudi, Gosthani, Gambhiram, and Raiwada canals has been suspended, and all storage tanks under GVMC jurisdiction have run dry. According to reports, refilling these tanks may take up to 10 hours. The administration is now planning to deploy Sachivalayam staff to assist in the process.

The crisis has sparked widespread public outrage. In several areas of the Port City—such as Madhurawada, Bakkanapalem, and Vambay Colony—women lined up outside their homes with water pots, anxiously awaiting relief from water tankers.

Criticizing the government, many residents questioned the lack of contingency planning. “The workers are on strike for a wage hike, but what is our fault? Why weren’t arrangements made to ensure uninterrupted water supply?” a woman asked angrily.

Some residents noted that while borewells exist in their neighborhoods, the water is unfit for use. “There’s a foul smell. Drainage water has mixed with the groundwater—it’s not even usable in the bathroom,” one woman said.
Others, particularly the elderly, complained about the physical toll of carrying water. “How can we survive like this?” one woman said, while waiting in a queue.

Frustrated locals slammed the government’s negligence in failing to manage basic services like water supply. They also questioned the TDP government’s ambition to transform Visakhapatnam into a tech hub, asking how such a vision could be realized if even issues concerning outsourced staff were mishandled—leading to what they called a “water emergency.”

Residents further criticized the authorities for failing to issue advance warnings about the supply suspension. Many said they couldn’t afford bottled water for all household needs. “We trusted three leaders—Chandrababu Naidu, Pawan Kalyan, and Narendra Modi. Is this what we get in return?” a resident from Bakkanapalem remarked.

The strike was preceded by a notice issued on June 11 by the outsourced water supply staff, who have been working under contract for the past 10 years. Around 900 workers demanded to be reclassified as semi-skilled and paid accordingly.

They highlighted that although the GVMC Council approved a ₹6,000 monthly salary hike last year and uploaded the revised wages on the APCAS website in May, they received old salaries in June. Their key demand: immediate implementation of the wage revision.

A meeting called by the mayor on Friday evening failed to resolve the issue, and the strike continues—leaving the City of Destiny dry and its residents in distress.