The Hindu 27.04.2013
Consumers in deep waters, officials stay afloat
Even after the non-revenue water management (NRWM) unit
and anti-theft wing of the Kerala Water Authority (KWA) unearthed cases
of rampant theft in the central region, no KWA official has been held
accountable.
As many as 305 consumers have been
issued notices since July 2012 for various offences such as theft, meter
tampering and illegal hose connections. While KWA officials agree that
consumers, in most cases, did not commit the theft by themselves, all
reports so far have penalised only the consumers.
Assistant
executive engineer K.M. Siddique, who heads the NRWM team in the
central region, said they had sent 68 reports to the KWA main office
citing various offences.
He said their powers were
limited to drawing up cases and collecting revenue from consumers. Any
other action had to be taken by the main office, he added.
The
NRWM team had found cases of faulty meters and incorrect meter reading
in which the meter reader could be held responsible. However, most
thefts were brought to the notice of the authorities by the meter
readers, said Mr. Siddique.
KWA rules mandate that
the meters be checked by top officials. Meter inspectors and assistant
engineers should check at least 10 per cent of the meters in their area.
However, this is not often followed. A meter reader in the city, who
did not want to be named, admitted that meter readers were, in many
instances, hand in glove with consumers. However, he said, there were
many cases in which officials turned a blind eye to illegal practices
that were reported.
A meter reader finds problems in
about 30 per cent of the meters every day. On an average, 25 per cent of
the meters were inaccessible, said the meter reader.
Meters
should be kept near the main entrance of the building where the
official could locate it easily, he said. There have been instances when
water is stolen through a valve before it reaches the meter that may be
located at the back of the house. Hence, the meter records only very
little of the actual consumption. Such faults cannot be detected by the
meter reader alone.
The meter reader could report to higher authorities, but action was seldom taken, he said.
