Mangaluru : Deputy Commissioner A.B. Ibrahim on Wednesday directed the Mangaluru City Corporation to ensure that all major construction activities in the city be stopped till May 31.

The decision has been taken to save water being used for construction activities.

At a meeting to review the water crisis in the city, he said that no construction activities of new apartments and other multi-storeyed buildings should continue till May 31. However, construction of small residential buildings could go on.

The district magistrate said that though earlier he had instructed the corporation to ensure that major construction activities stopped till water supply returned to normalcy the civic body has failed to check it.

At one point, Mr. Ibrahim asked K.N. Gopalakrishna, commissioner, MCC, to send a proposal seeking to close all hostels of students in the city and declare a holiday for educational institutions.

But when presspersons pointed out that undergraduate semester examinations of Mangalore University commenced from Tuesday and his order would affect many students the Deputy Commissioner said that he would take a final call on the matter later. Hence no hostels and educational institutions would be closed down for now. A corporation official said that currently the corporation was drawing water from 174 ore wells in the city for distribution. Of 29 places identified for drilling borewells, 17 have been drilled.

Of them pumps have been fixed to eight wells and pumps were being fixed to another eight wells. There was no water in a well drilled. The remaining 12 borewells are being drilled now.

He said that of 90 open wells, including 48 private ones and 42 under the control of government, identified water from 36 wells was already being used. Of the open wells identified 41 have been cleaned and their water samples have been sent for testing. Of them water of 60 per cent wells have been found fit for drinking.