Illegal water connections, fix meters, charge: J R Lobo

Illegal water connections, fix meters, charge: J R Lobo

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangaluru, April 2, 2015 : MLA, Mangaluru City South, J R Lobo, at a meeting  on April 1 suggested to  fix  meters to illegal water connections along the main supply pipes between Thumbe and Padil and supply water for a fixed time to those areas.  The MLA informed round-the-clock tapping of water through illegal pipes should be stopped immediately to ensure that the city got more water in summer when water consumption increased.

An official of the Mangaluru City Corporation had earlier told the meeting that though water was being pumped into two 18 million gallon a day capacity main pipes from Thumbe vented dam, it was not reaching the city in full capacity due to illegal tapping from the main pipes, an issue not addressed for decades. As a result, the civic body was not able to supply water to some high reach areas in the city as people consumed more water in summer.

Supplying water to such areas would not be a problem in monsoon when people consumed less water. MLA  Lobo suggested stopping round-the-clock water to illegal connections under the gram pachayats of Thumbe, Pudu, Adyar and Arkula as an immediate measure to augment water supply to the city. Meters should be fixed and water supplied at a given time.

An official of the Dakshina Kannada Zilla Panchayat told the meeting that a Rs. 23-crore project had been prepared as a permanent solution to end the illegal tapping issue. Water would be supplied to the gram panchayat areas from on old 2.5 MGD capacity main pipe .

But, B. Ramanath Rai, Minister in-charge of Dakshina Kannada, who had convened the meeting to discuss drinking water issues, switched over to an other subject without giving any specific instruction on the suggestion by MLA  Lobo.

Referring to water issues in rural areas, Minister  Rai instructed officials to drill borewells as an immediate measure. He also suggested to study whether existing water supply pipelines could be extended to areas where there was scarcity.