Kerala - Kochi   

Water crisis: Minister urged to convene meeting

By Our Staff Reporter

KOCHI, MARCH 3. The Water Resources Minister, Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan, should convene a meeting of MLAs, MPs and Corporation councillors to find a solution to the shortage of drinking water in the city, the Kochi Mayor, C.M. Dinesh Mani, said today.

He was talking to mediapersons after a special meeting of the Corporation Council, convened to discuss the issue of land acquisition for the solid waste treatment plant at Brahmapuram.

Not the right response

The issue of drinking water should be dealt with more maturity and not in an emotional way. The delegation of councillors, led by A.V. George, Deputy Mayor, which met the Minister, could not get the right response for such a serious issue. "However, no councillor has complained that the Minister insulted the delegation," Mr. Mani said.

On the claim by the Kerala Water Authority (KWA) that the Corporation owed around Rs. 60 crores as dues, Mr. Mani said that it was a misleading statement. The issue dated back to 1984 when KWA took over the distribution of drinking water from the Corporation.

The authority had not remitted the cost of pipes and taps installed by the Corporation before it took over the distribution and also collected the outstanding dues from consumers, he said.

The Corporation had deposited Rs. 18 crores with the KWA for the DFID project for distribution of water in West Kochi, which is yet to be completed.

Now, the KWA was complaining that the Corporation needed to pay for the 4,000-odd public taps, whereas the actual number of public taps would come to less than 2,000, Mr. Mani said.

The special meeting of the Corporation decided to add ex gratia amount to the price of the land that is to be acquired for the project, thereby clearing the proposal.

Though the Council had approved the bid document for the proposed plant at the previous meeting, the proposal was not cleared as some members expressed doubts over the legal validity of the proposal to add ex gratia to the price of the land to be acquired for the project.

The legal advice was in favour of the Council giving ex gratia to land owners on the basis of negotiable prices.

According to this scheme, the Corporation fixed the price of a 2.5-cent land with road frontage at Rs. 55,000, developed land with road frontage at Rs. 30,000 and developed land without road frontage and marshy lands at Rs. 12,500.

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