Work on faulty pipeline in Alappuzha district

Contractor asked to complete pipe relaying by Feb. 20

The work to replace 1,524 metres of defective pipeline under the Alappuzha drinking water project will begin on December 15.

Officials said here on Tuesday that the contractor had been asked to complete the pipe relaying work by February 20, 2020.

“As the Kerala Water Authority (KWA) will stop pumping in order to carry out the work, it has been decided to introduce alternative measures to supply drinking water to consumers in Alappuzha municipality and eight nearby grama panchayats. As many as 42 borewell schemes will be made operational. Water will also be distributed through tankers and from reverse osmosis plants till the work is completed,” said an official.

Water project

The Alappuzha drinking water project was executed by the Kerala Water Authority (KWA) with Central assistance under the Urban Infrastructure Development Scheme for Small and Medium Towns (UIDSSMT) in 2017.

However, since its launch, pipelines under the project have burst more than 40 times, including 30 major bursts at Thakazhy, in the past two-and-a-half years, disrupting the water supply and damaging the Ambalappuzha- Thiruvalla road.

The latest burst, which occurred on October 30, had affected more than five lakh people. It took almost two weeks to restore the supply. A high-level meeting convened by Water Resources Minister K. Krishnankutty earlier this month to discuss the drinking water crisis in Alappuzha decided to replace defective pipeline in three months.

As per the decision, 1,084 metres of faulty pipeline in Thakazhy and another 440 metres in Kelamangalam will be replaced.

Officials said that 1,000-mm high-density polyethylene pipe would be replaced with 900-mm mild steel pipe.

The work will be carried out by the same contractor who laid the pipeline.

The contractor would bear the cost of the mild steel pipe, said an official.

Onus on KWA

The pipe relaying work will be carried out after digging the Ambalappuzha-Thiruvalla road. Officials said the KWA would bear the cost of restoring the road dug up for laying the pipeline.

The road work would be carried out by the Uralungal Labour Contract Cooperative Society.

Probe demanded

Meanwhile, both the Congress and Communist Party of India (CPI) have demanded a detailed probe into the alleged corruption in the implementation of the drinking water project.

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