Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Revised rules for digging roads

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Agencies wishing to cut open or drill roads to lay cables should give advance information to the District Collector, the Kerala Water Authority, the Kerala State Electricity Board and the City Corporation about the schedule of work.

The applications by the agencies should be accompanied by an undertaking that in the event of any damage caused to public utilities, the full costs, or damages, as specified by the State government should be borne by them.

These stipulations are among the revised guidelines brought out by the district administration to regulate cable-laying and digging of roads in the capital city in the wake of the pipe burst at Sasthamangalam on Saturday caused by drilling of the road by workers of the telecom firm Vodafone.

District Collector Sanjay Kaul told The Hindu here on Sunday that applications for digging or cable-laying should be accompanied by full details of the work, such as technical details and drawings, the time and the period of the digging work, details of the kind of machines used and the name of the contractor with details of his competency in carrying out the work.

The agency should post an official on the work site who should be responsible for all actions of its.

The contact details of that official will be made public, Mr. Kaul said.

Normal pumping of drinking water to the Thirumala and PTP Nagar zones of the Kerala Water Authority (KWA) was restored on Sunday morning after repairing the 700-mm line that burst on Saturday.

At a press briefing held at the office of the Mayor, V. Sivankutty, MLA, said 100 tanker-loads of drinking water were sent to various parts of the city till 7 a.m. on Sunday. Forty tankers were sent to major hospitals, such as the Government Medical College Hospital.

The police have registered a case against a Kannur-based contractor and three others for destruction of public property in connection with Saturday’s pipe burst, he added.

The Public Works Department has estimated the initial cost of repairing the damaged section of road at Sasthamangalam at Rs. 12 lakh.

This will be claimed from Vodafone.

The department will make this section of the road motorable by Tuesday and will tar it by May 15.

K.P. Krishnakumar, Superintending Engineer, KWA, said the authority was drawing up plans to lay a dedicated line to supply water to the General Hospital. Water Resources Minister N.K. Premachandran has asked the KWA to ensure that the hospital received one-lakh litres of water daily.

Mr. Sivankutty said a Rs. 3.5-lakh project was on to refurbish the borewell inside the hospital.

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