Water supply not reinstated, people of Alappuzha face shortage of potable water from Tuesday

ALAPPUZHA: Normally people may place their hands over heads when they hear that their drinking water supply got disrupted for many days. But it is not a new thing for people of Alappuzha town.
The pipe line of Alappuzha drinking water project burst over 50 times after its inauguration and the latest burst took place on Tuesday night near the Kelamangalam bridge in Thakazhi.
The water supply to Alappuzha municipality and eight neighbouring gram panchayats got disrupted. There are at least 35000 consumers in Alappuzha municipality alone.
Urban Infrastructure Development Scheme for Small and Medium Towns (UIDSSMT) project manager A Sheeja said that they have facilitated the repair works on damaged pipeline at Kelamangalam and people are now depending on the tube wells for water. “The water supply will be completely reinstated on Saturday,” she said.
At the same time, Alappuzha municipal officials said that they with the support of Kerala Water Authority and Alappuzha municipality have arranged tankers for supplying drinking water to people.
Whenever the pipe of this drinking water project burst, it creates huge damages to the newly constructed Ambalappuzha-Thiruvalla road. It also creates problems for local people residing close to the pipe bursting place.
The Alappuzha drinking water project was executed with Central assistance under the Urban Infrastructure Development Scheme for Small and Medium Towns (UIDSSMT).
The project was launched in 2017. However, pipelines of this project have burst more than 50 times till date . KWA suspended earlier three engineers and one overseer alleging failures in Alappuzha drinking water project. Following it, a high-level meeting convened by Water Resources Minister K Krishnankutty in November 2019 decided to remove defective pipeline.
Though the KWA was all set for starting the pipe-relaying work on March 18, 2020, the outbreaking of Covid-19 pandemic forced them to put the works on hold. As per the plan, 1,524 m of the damaged pipeline will have to be replaced.