The Hindu : Kerala / Thiruvananthapuram News : KWA vigilance wing to inquire into pipe burst at Vayalikkada

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Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

KWA vigilance wing to inquire into pipe burst at Vayalikkada

G. Mahadevan

Notices issued to KSUDP and Hydrotech to re-lay line

It should have been laid at a depth of 2 metres
KWA says only a 100-metre stretch to be re-laid

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The vigilance wing of the Kerala Water Authority will probe the possible supervisory lapses of KWA engineers involved in the Theerapadhom scheme that could have resulted in the shallow laying of the HDPE pipeline ferrying water from Vayalikkada to the Medical College Hospital.

The line — laid less than a foot deep — beneath the Vayalikkada-Muttada road burst on Monday night partially disrupting the supply of water to the MCH. As per the provisions of the Theerapadhom scheme this line, like the others laid under the scheme, was to have been laid at a depth of two meters. According to KWA engineers the weight of the vehicles passing over the line could be the prime reason for it to burst a few feet away from its point of origin. The HDPE line originates from the ‘scour valve’ of the 900 mm PSC pipeline that carries water from the Peroorkada reservoir to Mannanthala.

The vigilance wing will now try to find out why KWA engineers who supervised the laying of the line permitted it to be laid so shallow and what action, if any, they initiated then to prevent this violation of the terms of the Theerapadhom scheme.

“We can fix responsibility only after getting a clear report on this issue,” KWA managing director Suresh Babu said here on Wednesday. “Only then can I recommend a course of action to the government.”

Mr. Babu pointed out that under the terms of the Theerapadhom scheme if a line can only be laid shallow a ‘concrete cover’ should be provided to it. This is to prevent the line from bursting in a manner it did at Vayalikkada on Monday. “Even this was not done at Vayalikkada,” he added.

Sources in the KWA said here that an Assistant Engineer attached to the wing that supervised the Theerapadhom scheme had raised numerous objections during the laying of the HDPE line at Chalakuzhy road. The said engineer was not part of the KWA team that supervised the work at the Kudapanakkunnu stretch and at Vayalikkada.

K.P. Krishnakumar, superintending engineer of the KWA, said here that the Authority has written to the director of the Kerala Sustainable Urban Development Programme (KSUDP) and to Hydrotech, the company that laid the line, asking that the line originating at Vayalikkad be re-laid at an enhanced depth.

For now the burst portion of the line has been covered with two ‘brackets’ fashioned out of mild steel. Sandbags have been placed beneath the damaged section of the pipe to prevent it from sagging.

According to Mr. Babu there is no option but to re-lay the HDPE line at Vayalikkada; KWA sources said here that it may be necessary to re-lay only a 100-metre stretch of the line.

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