Councillors in the Kochi Corporation on Thursday expressed their anguish over the frequent disruption of drinking water supply to the city. The Kochi corporation council, which discussed the acute drinking water scarcity experienced in many parts of the city, has also decided to register its protest against the “lethargic attitude” of some officials of the Kerala Water Authority (KWA) in plugging the leaks in pipelines and repairing the faulty ones.
Kochi Mayor Tony Chammany said the concerns of the civic representatives would be conveyed to the officials of the Kerala Water Authority.
Raising the issue in the corporation council meeting on Thursday, M. Anilkumar of the CPI (M) demanded that the corporation should suspend its session for two minutes as a mark of protest against the apathy of the KWA towards the water needs of the city residents. Some of the CPI(M) councillors too supported the demand of Mr. Anilkumar.
However, responding to the debate, Mr. Chammany said authority officials had intimated that one of the pumps at its Aluva pumping station had to be shut down for installing a new one. The pumping had to be closed again for fixing water supply connectivity pipelines to Palluruthy area. The authority had informed the civic body also on the shortage of over 150 MLD of water a day against the demand of 400 MLD, he said.
‘Protest improper’
Mr. Chammany felt that it would be improper for the Kochi corporation to protest against the State government in the issue as it had been extending support for the Kochi projects. While the KWA should be supported for all its good deeds, the agency should be asked to speed-up the repair works and plugging of leakage in the supply lines, he said.
T.J. Vinod, chairman of the Development Standing Committee of the Kochi corporation, said that no protests would ever change the style of functioning of the agency. A meeting of the senior officials of the agency should be convened to discuss the issue, he said.
K.J. Jacob, the CPI (M) leader in the council, said the corporation should convey its “unanimous protest” to the authority in the issue of water shortage.
