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.