Mysuru:  The Mysuru City Corporation (MCC) surprisingly and sadly does not have the blueprint of the drinking water pipeline laid out in various extensions of the city including the heart of the city, revealed Vani Vilas Water Works (VVWW) Assistant Executive Engineer (East) Vinay Kumar, Junior Executive Engineer Girish (South) and Muddu Mallegowda.

They were replying to the question of a member of Mysuru Grahakara Parishat (MGP) at an interaction meeting with the VVWW officials held at its office in Yadavagiri here yesterday.

A member asked the official as to why they were not able to stop the leakage of water in the pipes in a few places. Replying to this question, the officials said that there was no blueprint of the old pipelines laid out, with the MCC. Hence, it was difficult to repair the old pipelines and to stop the leakage, a survey of the new pipelines is being taken up. However, they expressed the confidence that the problem will be resolved in the coming days.

There are so many disruptions happening in the city all the time like for instance, the road is dug for the laying of a water pipeline, Underground Drainage (UGD) line, laying of cables by the Electricity Department. During these works, they never know whether there is a water pipeline running across as they do not have the blueprint. This result in the delay of repairing the pipes, they said expressing their helplessness.

Rs.140 crore water bill pending: The water bill of nearly Rs.140 crore is still pending. Out of this most of the dues are from the Government Departments and industries. The CHESCom (Chamundeshwari Electricity Supply Company) itself owes Rs.4 crore, besides the Police Department. Steps have been taken to collect the dues, they said in reply to another question.

Water woes at N.R. Constituency and other places: With the summer season beginning, there is a lot of water shortage in areas like Lashkar, Mandi Mohalla, Udayagiri, Shantinagar, Bannimantap and its surrounding areas, Ramabai Nagar, Janata Nagar and T.K. Layout.

A member drew the attention of the officials that especially in N.R. Constituency drinking water is released just once in three days for just one hour. Replying to this, the officials said that the requirement for this area is nine crore litre but only seven crore litre was being fulfilled. Hence, to fulfil the remaining water need, there was no choice but to release the water on alternate days.

Another reason for the shortage of water is because of the density of people in these areas and there are no water tanks or sump tanks in many houses as a result of which they cannot store water, they said.

MGP President S.D. Sauhakar, Secretary Prof. S. Shobana, Members Prof. S. Chandraprakash, U.B. Acharya, Gangaprasad, G. Chandrashekar, K.V. Ramanath, B.S. Kiran, Supriya Ram, B.N. Sumalatha, Sai Vijayagopinath, G. Pallavi, K.S. Umakanth, N. Gayathri Devi, D.N. Dayanand Sagar, M. Alikhan. R. Shafi Ahmed, H.Dasappa, K.S. Narasimhamurthy, Usha Narang, T.K. Bharathi, Dr. Renu Agrawal, S.N. Raghavendra, S. Shylajesh, S. Suresh Naik and Koushik were present.

Members’ suggestions

• Conduct Lok Adalat every month to understand water problems
• Create proper facilities to pay water bills  rainwater harvesting
• Take steps to collect water dues
• Form vigilance squads to stop water leakage
• Impose penalty on people who waste water
• Urge Government to form a Separate Water Board
• Uniform water supply in all extensions throughout the city