Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Pipe bursts again at Vayalikkada

Photo: S. Mahinsha

HARD AT WORK: Workers of the Kerala Water Authority repairing a pipe that burst near the Vayalikkada junction in the city on Tuesday. —

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The 400-mm high-density polyethylene (HDPE) pipe laid from Vayalikkada to the Medical College area as part of the Theerapathom scheme burst near the Vayalikkada junction early on Tuesday morning, partially disrupting supply of water to the Government Medical College Hospital (MCH).

The line, laid less than a foot deep, had burst near its point of origin on March 18. Tuesday’s burst took place a couple of feet away from that point. Workers of the Kerala Water Authority (KWA) cut away a section of the line, replaced it with a new one and placed a ‘bracket’ fashioned out of mild steel over the joint.

Normal supply of water was restored on the line by 9 p.m. on Tuesday. The two brackets used to plug the March 18 burst had cost the authority nearly Rs.15,000.

Based on a report by KWA superintending engineer (Thiruvananthapuram) K.P. Krishnakumar, Anand Singh, project director of the Kerala Sustainable Urban Development Project, has written to Hydrotech, the company which laid the pipeline, to re-lay it wherever the line’s depth from the road surface is less than what was specified in the Theerapathom scheme. The scheme specified that the lines had to be laid at a depth of 2 m from the road surface.

The letter written on Monday says that the KWA had, as far back as 2006, asked Hydrotech to re-lay a 100 m stretch of this line for want of sufficient depth.

Hydrotech has now been asked to re-lay the line at its own risk and cost.

The authority is also preparing to issue a notice to Hydrotech on Tuesday’s burst. On orders from its managing director, the internal vigilance wing of the authority will also probe possible supervisory lapses on the part of KWA engineers who oversaw the laying of pipelines as part of the Theerapathom scheme.

Another line laid under this scheme on Chalakuzhy road was repaired late on Monday night after it sprung a leak. Workers of the KWA placed a clamp over the leaking portion of the HDPE line.

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