The State government will not violate the Left Democratic Front’s poll promise that it will not increase drinking water tariff, Mathew T. Thomas, Water Resources Minister, has said.
The Minister was inaugurating the modernisation and expansion work on the Thiruvalla-Changanacherry drinking water supply scheme at Thirumoolapuram, near Thiruvalla, on Saturday evening. Mr Thomas said the government was exploring various other possibilities to overcome the financial crisis of the Kerala Water Authority (KWA) without hiking the water tariff. Moreover, the State was also thinking of extending every possible additional benefit to the KWA consumers, he said.
The Minister said the KWA had an excellent team spirit to overcome any crisis and the employees were fully aware that people waiting for drinking water were their real bosses. The KWA’s successful efforts to address the century-old drinking water problem in the State capital by pumping water from Neyyar dam to Aruvikkara river in record time was a historic achievement, he said.
The Central government had identified the KWA as the best performing department in the country and had sanctioned a bonus worth ₹25 crore last year. The KWA also started various development projects, including an innovation zone, and made efforts to use robots for manhole cleaning in association with the Startup Mission, he said.
Mr Thomas said many rivers in the State were undergoing a rejuvenation process. The proposed Thiruvalla-Changanacherry drinking water supply augmentation project was aimed at providing round-the-clock drinking water supply to Thiruvalla, he said.
The Minister said the KWA could launch 23 of the 24 drinking water supply projects proposed in 2016-17 and the remaining project had become a non-starter owing to non-availability of land for implementation. Steps had been taken to improve drinking water supply to the Upper Kuttanad villages of Niranom, Kadapra, Nedumpram, and Peringara. The newly constructed water storage tank at Peringara would be commissioned soon, he said.
Court complex
Mr Thomas said the government had sanctioned ₹23 crore for the proposed court complex at Thirumoolapuram. The government had also given administrative sanction for modernisation of the Kaviyur-Changanacherry road, he said. C.F. Thomas, MLA, presided over the function. K.V. Varghese, municipal chairman; K. Ananthagopan; and A. Shynamol, KWA managing director; also spoke.
