Water supply hit after clash between resident, valve man

Corporation workers repairing the main water pipeline near Marnamikatta in Mangalore on Tuesday. Photo: R. Eswarraj

Residents of Soorinje ward No.1 had no water supply on Monday after an altercation between a 67-year-old resident and a valve man on Saturday .

P.S. Aboobacker (67) lodged a complaint in the Surathkal Police accusing valve man Hasanabba of assaulting him and his wife on Saturday after he had filed a complaint with the Soorinje Gram Panchayat alleging his hand in disruption of water supply to his house.

The valve man in turn filed a complaint on Sunday accusing Aboobacker’s two sons Aziz and Rahim of assaulting him on Saturday.

Mr. Hasanabba, who was working on a contract basis in the panchayat, resigned on Monday in protest which led to disruption of water supply in Soorinje’s 200 households.

Gram Panchayat President Jagannath Shetty said the clash was more personal in nature and had nothing to do with the water supply problem, which the panchayat had already rectified.

Supply restored

Meanwhile Mangalore City South went without water on Monday and Tuesday after a main water supply line near Marnamikatta got damaged while workers of a private telecom company were digging the ground for laying underground cables. According to an official of Mangalore City Corporation the pipe was replaced on Tuesday afternoon and pumping of water began at 2.30 p.m. Houses received water by late evening on Tuesday. The cost of repairing the pipeline including the earthwork will be recovered from the telecom company.