THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A large aluminium vessel filled with water has been kept outside the house of Indira, a resident of Pullukadu, a settlement colony near Technopark. A hose, used for filling water from a street tap located 50m away from the house, has been rolled back promptly. Indira, in her mid-sixties, gets help from her neighbour Damayanthi in keeping the water ready before her son and wife return home from work in the evening.
Indira, who can barely walk as she is suffering from various ailments, dreads the day when the authorities will close the public tap near her residence. Three years ago, her neighbours too would have shared her concerns. Now, however, all of them, except for Indira, have taken water connections from Kerala Water Authority (KWA). A clerical error denied her a ration card and benefits due for a BPL family, she said. The colony had around five street taps for decades.
Saving two, the rest were closed as KWA was expanding its household water connections in the colony, which comprises around 200 families. Those who have received connections have mixed feelings about the street taps, where a considerable amount of time used to be spent collecting water.
“The street tap was one place where women discussed family matters,” says Jaya, another resident. According to her, scarcity of water was one of the major factors that united residents. Like many others in the colony, she too spent around `9,500 for laying a pipeline to her house and half the amount has been reimbursed by the city corporation. However, Shyamala and daughter Anju, who reside three houses away from Jaya, have a problem with the mounting water bill that came with the private connection. While Anju complains that she recently settled a due of `1,000, her mother says she has started using the street tap again for monetary reasons. But they are more worried about others misusing the tap.
“Residents, who are well-off than us, misuse the tap for watering their garden. I wouldn’t mind this had they closed the street tap after use,” says Anju. There are constant fights among residents over the puddle created by those using street taps. The tap is located on a slanting road. Those living down the road are not happy with water flowing into their house.
Hence, closing the tap near her house would settle some of the discord among residents. But it remains the lone source of water for Indira and her family.There are 2,300 street taps, considered a feature of Kerala model of development, in Thiruvananthapuram corporation alone. All of it are likely to be closed as the government is looking to increase private pipeline connections. It has plans to provide 55 lakh tap connections in the next five years through Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM), which is partly funded by the Centre.
However, the programme will make water expensive for people like Indira, who are dependent on public taps. Experts have pointed out that people from coastal areas, high ranges, colonies near plantations and tribal colonies will have to pay from their pockets for water besides giving scope for corruption while installing individual tap connections.