Faulty VVWW valve floods hotel

• Water gushes into basement of hotel in Yadavagiri; heavy damage to furniture and rooms
• Will Vani Vilas Water Works pay compensation?

Mysore/Mysuru: The staff of Hotel Komfort Suites on Vivekananda Road in Yadavagiri woke up to flooded premises after water from the Ground-Level Reservoir at the Vani Vilas Water Works (VVWW), located behind the hotel, overflowed and inundated the property in the early hours of today.

Water entered the hotel’s basement, reception area, corridors and rooms, besides damaging the compound wall and furniture worth several lakhs of rupees. It is learnt that a delay of about 30 minutes in closing the valve resulted in water gushing into the hotel like a small stream, causing extensive damage.

As VVWW staff failed to arrive in time to close the valve, hotel staff shut it themselves to prevent further damage.

Repeated flooding 

Employees engaged in clearing the water said this was not the first such incident. The hotel has been flooded on several occasions in the past and despite repeated representations to VVWW authorities to rectify the problem and prevent water from entering the premises, no permanent solution has been implemented so far.

Meanwhile, members of the Mysore Grahakara Parishat (MGP) and the Yadavagiri Residents Association (YRA) rushed to the spot, inspected the hotel premises and alerted officials of the Mysuru City Corporation (MCC) and VVWW.

Following this, MCC Superintending Engineer Manju, VVWW Executive Engineer Ashwin Kumar, Assistant Executive Engineer Mustafa, Junior Engineer Natesh and other staff visited the site and inspected the hotel and the valve chamber.

Speaking to Star of Mysore, Superintending Engineer Manju said there was a problem with the water valve of the Ground-Level Reservoir and that an estimate was being prepared to repair the valve chamber.

He added that the valve has now been closed and water flow into the hotel has stopped. He also said that VVWW would get the damaged compound wall repaired today and ensure that such incidents do not recur in future.

Will MCC or VVWW compensate for loss?

President and CEO of Hotel Komfort Suites, Hemanth Kumar, speaking to Star of Mysore this morning, said that the hotel’s sanitary lines, water pipes and underground power cables were damaged. He added that the false ceiling, compound wall and fencing collapsed due to the water-logging.

He further said that the ground floor of the hotel has been filled with sewage-mixed water and that staff are currently pumping it out. Rooms on the left side of the hotel cannot be rented for at least a week due to silt deposition and foul odour.

“I have suffered losses running into several lakhs of rupees. Will the MCC or VVWW compensate for the loss? Because of my hotel building, water was prevented from gushing into houses in low-lying areas. I will be writing to the MCC Commissioner in this regard,” he said.