Urban News

Water Resources Minister N K Premachandran will convene a meeting of the officials in the district soon in this regard.

It is the alleged nexus between the officials and the contractors that has crippled many of the KWA projects in the district. The Blue Brigade, which was launched in Kochi last year, has ceased to function owing to the negligence on the part of those controlling it. It was to check the loss of potable water owing to leaks in pipelines that the Blue Brigade was started.

On getting complaints about leakage or breakage of the KWA pipelines, the Blue Brigade has to act immediately. And, the brigade is bound to deploy the contractors, who had undertaken the annual maintenance work, within 24 hours.

Though the brigade functioned effectively in the beginning, later it became defunct. The contractors who were to do the daily maintenance hardly did any work. If the brigade had functioned well, the contractors would have been forced to conduct the repair work regularly. So the contractors allegedly influenced the officials who had been controlling the brigade. It is this unholy nexus between the officials and the contractors that has resulted in the 'untimely death' of the muchhyped initiative.

The fate of the antitheft squad, which was started along with the Blue Brigade, has been the same. Even as water theft is becoming rampant in Kochi, the officials who are leading the squad are inactive.

The government has decided to vitalise the Blue Brigade and the antitheft squad by roping in new heads. The Blue Brigade in Kozhikode, Kollam and Thiruvananthapuram are functioning properly. The government has decided to introduce specially designed vehicles for the brigade.

In Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram, one more Blue Brigade will be started to cater to the growing needs.