Kochi: State Water Resources Minister P.J. Joseph accompanied by additional chief secretary V.J. Kurien on Thursday stepped in, in an effort to put an end to the drinking water woes plaguing the district on account of two pipe bursts in a span of two weeks. The pipe bursts are yet to be plugged.

After holding a two-hour meeting with officials of the Kerala Water Authority and district administration including District Collector P.I. Sheik Pareeth in the presence of MLAs Hibi Eden, Dominic Presentation and Benny Behnan and Kochi Mayor Tony Chammany, the Minister promised that the issue would be resolved in 24 hours.

The pipe bursts at Aroor and Kumbalam toll plaza left areas under Maradu Municipality, Kumbalam, Kumbalanghi and Chellanam without drinking water supply forcing restive people to take their protests to the streets on Thursday. This forced officials and the people’s representatives to call an emergency meeting at the Ernakulam guest house.

The Minister said that stronger DI pipes which can withstand the load of heavy vehicles would be installed on the national highway. “The crack developed at Kumbalam because the old type of pipe could not withstand the weight of heavy vehicles which began passing through the road in recent times. We will replace them,” he said.

He said a KWA team will study Ernakulam’s water woes and submit a report in 10 days and action would be initiated based on that. He said that in areas where old pipes were laid, a parallel network with DI pipes would be laid.

A Rs 900-crore project too is in the pipeline to end the drinking water woes of Ernakulam. The JNNURM drinking water project which would be commissioned in December would be able to solve the issue to a great extent, the Minister added.

Hyderabad: Industries and commercial establishments in and around the city should brace for a steep hike in drinking water tariff as the Hyderabad Water Board has proposed a 100 per cent hike. However, domestic consumers will be spared.

Department officials will make a detailed presentation to Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy regarding the necessity to hike the tariff.

The CM’s approval is mandatory to revise tariffs as he is the chairman of the Water Board. “We are expecting to meet the Chief Minister within a week,” said a senior official.

The Water Board, which hopes to raise Rs 600 crore through the tariff hike, has blamed the electricity tariff hike and FSA charges in power bills for compelling it to propose the tariff hike.

Sources said that the Board’s expenditure has crossed Rs 1,000 crore against its annual income of Rs 750 crore. The establishment charges are all set to go up due to the pay revision. Water tariff had been hiked for consumers of all categories in December 2011.

The Board consumes huge electricity to pump Krishna, Manjira and Singur water to the city and its electricity dues have touched nearly Rs 300 crore.

Highly placed sources told DC that Water Board officials have also proposed an “annual automatic tariff revision” for all category consumers in addition to the main proposal of 100 per cent increase in water tariff for industrial and commercial consumers.

There are 1,500 industrial and water-based industrial connections that together pay nearly Rs 220 crore water bills every year. The Board wants to collect over Rs 440 through the hike.