THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The smart road project has come at a high cost for hundreds of residents living along the 4.2-km-long Althara-Chenthitta Road in the capital. It has been more than seven or eight months since the densely populated residential areas along the stretch are experiencing water supply disruptions. Owing to apathy and lack of coordination between various agencies, the restoration of water supply continues to drag on inordinately.
Though the issue has been raised multiple times in the recent past, the Kerala Water Authority (KWA) has failed to execute the work and has flouted many deadlines leaving the residents at the receiving end. The distressed residents are planning to hold a protest at the KWA office at Vellayambalam on Friday demanding immediate redressal to their issue.
“It has been nearly eight months and there is no water supply all day and night. Our storage tanks have dried up and there is not enough pressure in the water supply to pump and refill the storage tanks. This has become a constant struggle for the families here,” said Datha Sunil, secretary, Udara Siromani Residents’ Association.
“The water authority gives us water during the night but there is no pressure and they stop the supply within two hours. This arrangement is not working anymore and sometimes we go without water for three or four days continuously. We are forced to buy water from service providers,” Datha told TNIE. Many residents’ associations along the stretch, including, CSM Nagar, Althara, Thampuran Nagar, and Udara Siromani have called for a protest in front of the KWA office at Vellayambalam on Friday. MLA Antony Raju will be inaugurating the protest.
According to the Kerala Road Fund Board (KRFB), the custodian of the stretch, the KWA is clueless about the location of the age-old pipelines. “They have been cutting open the road looking for the old lines but are not able to find them,” said an official source. The recently tarred smart road was cut open by the KWA at multiple locations for doing the inter-connection works. As part of the smart road project, new utility lines for water supply have been laid but owing to lack of coordination, the training was done before charging the new pipelines.
It is learned that 21 out of the 23 interconnections have been completed. “Only two interconnection works are remaining and we are unable to restore the water supply because of the ongoing work. We will be decommissioning the old pipelines after fully charging the new lines and it will be completed within a week,” said a KWA official.
However, according to officials, the flow of water through the new pipeline is weak because of the difference in the sizes of the old and new pipelines. To fix the issue, the KWA is planning to link the existing pipelines with the main pipeline coming from PTP Nagar. “Around 310-m-long pipes need to be laid from Vellayambalam to Althara for linking with the main pipeline from PTP Nagar. We are hoping to complete the work by next Tuesday,” said a KWA senior official.