Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

Pipe burst: KWA groping in the dark

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Even after spending tens of thousands of rupees for the repair of the drinking water pipeline from Vayalikkada to the Medical College Hospital, the Kerala Water Authority is still groping in the dark in finding a permanent solution to the problem.

The high density polyethylene line laid as part of the Theerapadhom scheme burst three times in March and again on April 11. The KWA maintains that the prime reason for the burst is the fact that the line in question has been laid very shallow; only a few centimetres below the road surface. The KWA engineers also maintain that their repeated warnings about the inadequate depth of this line fell on deaf ears — in the higher echelons of the KWA, the top brass at the Theerapadhom office and among top IAS officials who coordinated the whole project. Hydro-Tech Engineers and Contracts, the firm that laid the line, says the line was laid under the supervision of KWA engineers and that they cannot complain now when the line started bursting.

The Hindu has obtained a copy of the letter written by the KWA’s Assistant Executive Engineer who was in charge of supervising the laying of the line at Vayalikkada to Hydro-Tech. The letter dated February 5, 2005, points out that the depth of the 400 mm line at its starting point in the Vayalikkada-Muttada road is only 50 cm. “Also in this portion, for about 50 m the pipe has been laid above the existing 400 mm premo pipe. Hence it will be difficult to repair the premo pipe when damaged. Hence you are directed to strictly comply with the basic rules of pipe laying works and follow the directions of the field officers of Kerala Water Authority,” the letter says.

Based on this and other similar letters, the executive engineer (PH division) of the KWA had, in 2005, also written to Hydro-Tech pointing out the lack of adequate depth and asking the firm to re-lay a 100 metre stretch of the line.

However, there are indications that the KWA engineers, after writing such letters to Hydro-Tech, may have given the go-ahead for laying the line after being assured by the Public Works Department (PWD) engineers then present at the site that the department would raise the Vayalikkada-Muttada road by one meter. Then the pipeline would have had sufficient ‘cover’, the sources say. This point is also raised in the letter written by Hydro-Tech to the director of the Kerala Sustainable Urban Development Project (KSUDP). The director of the KSUDP had, in March, written to the company asking it to relay the Vayalikkada line at its own risk and cost. In its reply, the company declined to do so and, among other things, pointed out that the raising of the road was “underway” at the time of laying the pipeline. However, the KWA has no records of any such ‘assurance’ given by the PWD.

A senior engineer of the KWA says that the authority is playing it safe on the Vayalikkada issue, in particular, and about other such problems relating to the Theerapadhom scheme because any ‘solution’ regarding one problem area may open up a can of worms. “The main consultant for Hydro-Tech is a former managing director of the KWA, it was the then Chief Secretary who had overall control...a lot of bigwigs were involved,” he says.

The ‘internal vigilance inquiry’ ordered by the KWA MD over the Vayalikkada issue is, reportedly, in progress.

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