THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: An ambitious water supply project aimed at augmenting supply to the capital city is now tangled up in a land row.With water consumption by city residents rising, the Water Resources Department had envisaged the project which has Neyyar reservoir as the water source.
The government has accorded administrative sanction for it, but the Irrigation Department has not succeeded in handing over the five acres of land to the Kerala Water Authority (KWA) for establishing the purification plant. Interestingly, the Irrigation Department had won a favourable decision regarding the ownership of the land in question, but boundary disputes remain unsettled causing the delay. ‘’This is an issue that has to be settled through discussions involving all stakeholders,’’ Parassala MLA C K Hareendran told Express.
Water supply requirements of Thiruvananthapuram Corporation region is chiefly met by the Peppara dam. But during the 2017 summer, the severe drought depleted water levels in Peppara alarmingly. This had prompted a frantic KWA to fall back on the Neyyar dam. Pumps were rushed to the region on a war-footing and disused canals revived to launch alternate supply to the capital. This had prompted the Water Resources Department to think of a permanent scheme at Neyyar to augment city supply.
Although Irrigation Department officials had tried to survey the land, they were prevented from doing so by the residents. The government given the administrative sanction to establish the plant at an estimated cost of Rs 60 crore. Pipelines will be laid from Neyyar to PTP Nagar at a cost of Rs 150 crore. Administrative sanction is awaited for the purchase of various other components including pump sets.
Delay in settling the land dispute, will, in turn, delay the crucial water supply project. Once work is kicked off, it will take at least three years before the project can be commissioned, KWA officials said. It will take around one-and-a-half years to construct the plant. Laying the pipes all the way from Neyyar to the city is expected to take, at the optimistic best, three years, Leena Kumari, superintending engineer, KWA, said. At present, Neyyar is the water source for water supply projects such as the 10 MLD Kalippara project for the local panchayats.