More than 48 hours after a 1,000-mm pipeline bringing water from Aruvikkara to Vellayambalam burst at four places on Monday, personnel of the Kerala Water Authority (KWA) on Wednesday night restored supply of water on the line. However, normal supply of water to parts of the city is expected to be restored only by late Thursday morning. Even though supply on the line was restored by 8 p.m. on Wednesday, a small leak in a repaired joint continues to be a source of worry.
“We have decided to temporarily plug this dripping and go ahead with charging the line. This can be repaired later during an announced shutdown,” a KWA engineer said. It was unlikely that the dripping would lead to another burst, he said. The completion of the repair was delayed considerably following the discovery of damage in a section of the pipeline adjacent to the spot where the line burst at a point on the Peroorkada-Vazhayila road.
Faced with shortage of water tankers to supply water to different parts of the city, District Collector K.N. Satheesh on Wednesday morning ordered the seizure of all private tankers in the city for use by the government.
Assistant Commissioner, Excise, N.S. Suresh, whose father is said to own a private tanker service, was arrested by a team of police led by Peroorkada Circle Inspector Ashokan when he attempted to resist the seizure of 10 tankers run by the agency. A case has been registered at the Peroorkada police station against him.
KWA officials said 103 tanker-loads of water were supplied from the KWA’s filling points at Vellayambalam and PTP Nagar as of 6 p.m. on Wednesday. Almost as many tanker-loads were supplied from Aruvikkara, the KWA officials said. However, there were places where the tanker lorries did not reach. For instance, a doctor at a private hospital in the General Hospital area told The Hindu that repeated calls to the helpline numbers published by the KWA did not elicit any response. A couple of helpline numbers were continuously switched off, he said.
