The issues related to supply of potable water and the apathy of the Kerala Water Authority in repairing the pipelines dominated the discussions at the Kochi Corporation Council meeting held here on Thursday.

In his reply, Mayor Tony Chammany said the council had observed that there is serious apathy on the part of the KWA in completing the repair works of the existing pipelines. “We will convey the protest of the council in this regard to KWA officials,” Chammany said.

He said though the delay in repairing the pipelines had resulted in the disruption of water supply, the shortage of water is a grave issue in itself.

“The basic problem is that we are not getting adequate volume of water and there is a huge gap between the demand and supply. Kochi needs a minimum 400 million litres of water a day, while the supply is only 230 mld. We are pinning our hopes on the water supply projects that are in various stages of implementation,” Chammany said.

The Mayor said separate review meetings will be convened by the respective division councillors to discuss the status of potable water projects under the Kerala Sustainable Urban Development Project (KSUDP). Earlier, initiating the discussions, Opposition councillor M Anilkumar alleged that the lackadaisical attitude of the KWA had resulted in the non-completion of various projects mooted in the past. “We suspect that a section of KWA officials are hand-in-glove with the water mafia to privatise the water supply sector,” Anilkumar added.

A majority of the councillors who took part in the discussions said that several agencies, including the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation  (DMRC) and Kochi Metro Rail Limited (KMRL)  are bypassing the Corporation in taking some key decisions.

Citing the Edappally flyover as the latest example, Opposition Councillor M Sunilkumar said that the Mayor should not allow the move by the agencies to prevent the elected council from overseeing the execution of infrastructure projects in the city.

Earlier, the statement made by councillor Celine Peter that her letter pad was forged by a person to change the name of Pallichal Road to V S Krishna Bhagavathar Road also invited strong protest from the Opposition.

The Mayor also said that the decision to terminate 31 attenders from the Homoeo clinics under the Corporation will also be reconsidered.