In the face of rising public anger and media criticism over a recent surge in leaks in drinking water pipelines in the capital city, the Kerala Water Authority has decided to strengthen its ‘Blue Brigade’ system to tackle pipe-maintenance work speedily.
The Blue Brigade teams were set up in the city in February 2009 as part of the ‘Institutional Strengthening’ project of the KWA and were designed to swing into operation as and when the ‘running contractors’ of the KWA failed to set right a leaking pipeline within a specified time frame.
Even though the KWA planned to set up brigades throughout the State, it was in the capital city that it operated, whenever it did, most efficiently.
Two teams
The KWA currently has two Blue Brigade teams—one for each PH division in the city. However, given the size of the city and the state of the pipeline network this is grossly inadequate. Therefore there is no on-the-ground impact of this select team of the KWA which was to have been known for its speed and efficiency.
The current plan is to institute five Blue Brigade teams, one for each KWA sub-division in the city. The Assistant Engineer (maintenance) in a sub-division will supervise the functioning of the Brigade team which, the KWA hopes, would be able to respond faster to local requirements.
Where the KWA has failed the Blue Brigade in the past is in the matter of procuring adequate equipment for the teams. To begin with, the two Brigade teams now have between them two vehicles; a jeep and a mini-truck. Critical equipment including concrete cutters, jackhammers, generators and emergency lights are in perpetual short supply. To add to this the KWA’s request to equip the Brigade teams with two-wheelers—to access narrow roads in the city—did not bear fruit.
“It is one thing to set up five Brigade teams. For them to be really effective we have to give them the right equipment in adequate numbers. Whether that would happen, remains to be seen,” a senior KWA engineer told The Hindu .
The Superintending Engineer, Thiruvananthapuram, is understood to have been tasked with preparing a report detailing how the Blue Brigade can be strengthened and its operations made more speedy and efficient. A recent meeting chaired by the Water Resources Minister has also set an August 31 deadline for the submission of the report.
