Kerala - Palakkad   

KWA regularises 500 illegal water connections

Staff Reporter

Installs bulk water meters

PALAKKAD: The Kerala Water Authority (KWA), Chittur, has regularised more than 500 illegal water connections disconnected since May 2006 for unauthorised tapping of water.

The World Bank-aided Mini Water Supply schemes implemented by the Kerala Rural Water Supply and Sanitary Agency (KRWSA) in Muthalamada grama panchayat, Chittur taluk, has been defunct since May 2006 owing to disconnection following illegal tapping of KWA water. The scheme, implemented by a voluntary organisation with independent water source, failed after initial supply as its sources of borewells and open wells dried up. The implementing agency diverted water from the KWA without its sanction.

The KWA disconnected water to the scheme after it detected the illegal tapping of water. This put more than 500 beneficiaries in Perinchira, Chulliyarmedu, Pazhayapatha and Kambrathuchalla in Muthalamada grama panchayat to hardship.

R. Jayachandran, assistant executive engineer, KWA, Chittur, said as part of the decentralisation programme, Mini Water Supply schemes once owned and maintained by the KWA were handed over to the local body, which in turn transferred them to beneficiary groups under the Jalanidhi project. However, owing to lack of technical expertise, the schemes could not function effectively.

The local body has now entered into an agreement with the KWA to pay for the water connection. The KWA has installed bulk water meters to assess the quantity of water supplied to each beneficiary group. Under the agreement, the grama panchayat will collect water charges from the beneficiary groups and remit them to the KWA before the 7th of every month, he said.

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