KWA says repairs delayed due to PWD not allowing it to dig road
Thiruvananthapuram: The 400 mm primo pipeline carrying water to Kesavadasapuram from the Peroorkada tank burst on Thursday evening at Muttada. Pumping has temporarily been stopped through the line following the burst. Sources in the KWA said that the repair of the pipeline could not be done as the PWD has not given sanction to dig the road.
The issue was that the PWD officials were reluctant to hand over the permission for maintenance as the KWA owed them a huge amount of money for repair of roads that had been damaged following pipeline bursts in the past. As a result, the repair work of the line got delayed. The work on the maintenance of the pipeline is likely to begin only by Friday morning.
As a result, the possibility of the pipeline being repaired before Friday noon is remote. Water supply would be disrupted in these areas till maintenance works are completed. However, sources said that even if the maintenance work is completed by the afternoon, it would take another two to three hours for the water to reach the high level areas of the city.
The supply of drinking water to Kesavadasapuram, Muttada, Ulloor and Medical college would be disrupted following the burst. The pipeline through the Muttada stretch has been vulnerable to burst open in the past also. The pipeline had burst a few times during recent years.
One of the issues with the 400-mm primo pipelines ferrying water from Peroorkada tank to the Pattom-Muttada-Paruthipara-Kesavadasapuram areas was that it was more than 40 years old. The KWA had earlier taken a decision to replace the primo pipes with cast iron pipes. However, they could not go ahead with the project due to issues over the non- payment of road cutting expense to the PWD.
