Single snag, multitude of sufferers

A technical snag, with the new system going kaput when pumping was attempted on Tuesday, has taken the works into the seventh day.

A normal disruption in water supply in parts of the city last week has turned into a major water shortage with cascading effects on several areas.

The disruption, officially announced by the Kerala Water Authority (KWA) last Saturday, due to the pipe-laying works near the Maruthankuzhy bridge, entered its seventh day on Friday. Though officials asserted that the situation would be back to normal by Saturday, the public is not ready to buy the theory.

The official version was that the disruption would continue for three days. However, a technical snag, with the new system going kaput when pumping was attempted on Tuesday, has taken the works into the seventh day. Now, according to assistant executive engineer Ajay Kumar, only “a few clamps remained to be fixed and water supply will be restored by Saturday morning.”

Areas affected

Though the work was expected to affect only areas such as Vellayambalam, Mettukada, Valiyasala, and Vazhuthacaud, complaints of water shortage started cropping up from Sasthamangalam, Thirumala, Kowdiar, Kumarapuram, PTP Nagar, and Jagathy, from Wednesday.

‘We were not informed’

Though officials insisted that only elevated areas surrounding Maruthankuzhy were affected, newspaper offices have been receiving calls from other areas as well, with many coming down heavily on the KWA for not alerting the public after it was known that the disruption would continue. Several consumers pointed out that the alternative arrangements made by the KWA were inadequate.

Some from Sasthamangalam said they had to call in private tankers paying unjustified sums because the KWA tankers could not reach their houses.

“The KWA has only two big tankers and those cannot enter our bylanes. They did not arrange for smaller tankers and so we had to call in private tankers,” said one caller.

KWA has promised supply restoration by Saturday. It will be known then whether the complaints from the other areas were due to the work at Maruthankuzhy, as some officials suggested, or whether there are other issues affecting normal supply in the city.