VOICING PROTEST: Youth Congress workers gheraoing Kerala Water Authority managing director T.P. Mohanlal in his office on Tuesday demanding steps to resolve the drinking water crisis in the city. — Photo: C. Ratheesh Kumar

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The pumping of drinking water from Aruvikkara to various storage reservoirs of the Kerala Water Authority (KWA) in the city was disrupted for close to three hours on Tuesday following power failure at the pumping stations, once in the morning and once in the evening.

This led to an acute shortage in water supply to most parts of the city, especially to those areas serviced by the reservoir at Peroorkada. According to KWA officials, the disruption in power supply first occurred on in the morning for about 15 minutes when the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) shut down one feeder line for routine maintenance work. The engineers of the KWA at Aruvikkara said that the KSEB notified the shut down only this morning. Pumping was disrupted for a second time when the KSEB switched back to the feeder line on which maintenance work was carried out.

Activists of the Youth Congress gheraoed KWA managing director T. P. Mohanlal at his office this morning in protest against the shortage of drinking water in many parts of the city. In a press note, the district Youth Congress committee said the water shortage in the city was being artificially created by a mafia that indulged in profiteering by distributing drinking water in tanker lorries to various parts of the city and to commercial establishments. This mafia was being aided by KWA officials who closed valves in the main pipelines to create a shortage of water, it alleged.

The gherao was called off after Mr. Mohanlal gave a written assurance to the activists that he would inquire into their allegations and take appropriate action within 24 hours.

Mr. Mohanlal later told The Hindu that he had not given any written assurance to the Youth Congress activists. "I will, however, hold an inquiry. I will visit Aruvikkara at 10.30 a.m. on Wednesday and look into the problems of the pumps there. I will also initiate action to install a generator at the Aruvikkara plant so that pumping is not affected by power disruptions. I will meet with the chairman of the KSEB to discuss the issues relating to the supply of power to Aruvikkara. A special squad was set up Tuesday to look into shortage of water supply in the city and to take appropriate action. It must be borne in mind that if there is disruption of pumping from Aruvikkara for two hours, normal supply of water in the distribution network can be done only over the next two days," he said.

Steps will be taken to ensure that there are at least two metres of water above the outflow point at the Peroorkada reservoir, he added.

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