Rain or no rain, people in three coastal wards of the Kozhikode municipal Corporation are destined to make do with little water.
The drinking water woes of the Kappakkal, Payyanakkal, and Chakkumkadavu wards worsened this summer with the officials of the Kerala Water Authority (KWA) turning a blind eye to the suffering of the residents.
Being on the coast, water in the wells in this region is salty and unfit for consumption. With the sea on one side and a river amidst, the water in the paddy fields here are red, owing to the presence of some chemicals. For years, the residents have been depending on KWA pipelines situated in various parts of the region. But the supply has been very scarce this summer, said P. Avaran, councillor of the Kappakkal ward.
Pleas to authorities“We tried many things — sending a dozen petitions to the authorities and getting recommendations from M.K. Raghavan, MP, and Minister M.K. Muneer. But the officials paid no heed. After each complaint, there will be supply for two days and then it will stop,” he said. “The Corporation has been supplying drinking water in tankers on alternate days throughout the summer. But there are only 10 loads of water for four wards, which is clearly not enough for even one ward, which has 11,000 people, ” Mr. Avaran added.
Councillor of the Payyanakkal ward C.P. Mussafir Ahammed said the KWA did not have any interest in making optimum use of available resources. It did not undertake maintenance work on time and there were no pipelines in many places.
