Mangaluru : Councillors of Mangaluru City Corporation at a meeting on Monday blamed Jalasiri drinking water project delay in completing on the apathy of the contractor and officials for the Rs 821.97 crore project not becoming a reality even five years after its launch.
Mayor Manoj Kumar had called the meeting to review the progress and address the issues associated with the project launched on December 24, 2019.
Leader of the Opposition Congress in the council Anil Kumar alleged that the contractor — M/s Suez India Pvt. Ltd. and Suez Project Pvt. Ltd. JV with M/s DRS Infra Tech Pvt. Ltd. — had completely failed to ensure that the project was completed on time. “Not even 50% of the project has been completed. The contractor is wholly responsible for the delay,” Mr. Kumar said.
Mr. Kumar and other councillors said that people were taking them to task over the mess created in the implementation stage, particularly the delay in restoring the roads dug up for laying pipelines.
A. Shwetha, councillor from Surathkal East ward, said the ward is being supplied drinking water once in three days. This is because of changes made in the water distribution system while the project is under way. “Forget supplying round the clock water for which the project has been designed. At least supply water daily. Now, the ward is receiving water only two hours a day,” she said and added that many houses in her ward are being supplied with water through tankers. “People in my ward are cursing me for not being able to supply at least drinking water daily,” she said.
Keshav from Maroli ward and some other councillors pointed out that the roads dug up for laying distribution network pipelines have not been restored.
Shobha Poojary, councillor from Alape South ward, said that old water meters in her ward have been replaced with new ones under the project and people have been getting exorbitant water bills since then. The new distribution pipelines laid have not been linked with the main water supply lines.
Sangeetha R. Nayak, councillor from Pachchanady ward, said that there is lack of co-ordination among MCC, KUIDFC (Karnataka Urban Infrastructure Development and Finance Corporation) and National Highways Authority of India, in completing laying of the main pipeline from Kulashekara to Baiturli.
Shamshad Aboobakkar, councillor from Katipalla North ward, complained of irregular water supply to Krishnapura, Katipalla and Chokkabettu areas.
The Mayor instructed the KUIDFC officials to respond to all the issues raised by the councillors within two days and submit an action taken report to him. He said that he will inspect the areas facing issues and will hold zone-wise meetings to address the issues.