THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A high pressure filter pump intended to provide coastal Vizhinjam with better drinking water is expected to be commissioned next week.
The filter has been installed near Vizhinjam, Kerala Water Authority officials said. Clean drinking water has been thickly-populated Vizhinjam’s demand for some time now and the new mechanism is expected to redress the grievance.
The funding pattern of the project is as follows: MP’s Fund - ` 10 lakh; and ` 5 lakh each from the MLA fund, KWA and the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation. ‘’Earlier, the complaint was that water supplied to the region through various schemes were polluted. The filter pump will solve the problem,’’ a senior KWA official said. Although the local people had staged several demonstrations demanding water, their demand had fallen on deaf ears.
The decision to install the pump was taken last July after the local people gheraoed Chief Minister Oommen Chandy when he visited the region for another function. Later, Chandy convened a meeting of people’s representatives, where it was decided to install the pump at the earliest.
KWA superintending engineer Krishnakumar was also entrusted with the implementation of a comprehensive water supply scheme for Vizhinjam. The ` 25-crore project is intended to provide water to the area by setting up a treatment plant at Vellayani.
As a relief measure, the Corporation was directed to supply drinking water in tankers. The recent survey had found that the people of Vizhinjam were forced to purchase water from private agencies at ` 2.50 a pot.