The Thiruvananthapuram city corporation announced a holiday for schools and colleges on Monday due to the postponement in fixing the city’s water supply system.
For the last four days, residents and businesses within 40 wards of the municipal corporation have been without access to drinking water, courtesy of the Kerala Water Authority (KWA), because of construction activities aimed at shifting the main transmission line at Melarannur. This change in the water pipeline’s alignment is necessary because the railway track from Thiruvananthapuram to Nagarcoil is currently undergoing doubling processes.
As the process of supplying drinking water started early in the morning of Monday, the local government announced a break for all schools and educational centers within its jurisdiction. Consequently, all examinations scheduled for Monday at the schools have been moved to a different date.
By midday on Monday, numerous regions of the state capital started to get access to water, whereas those situated on elevated ground remained without it. The Youth Congress and KSU, the student organization representing Congress, held protests calling for measures to be taken against corrupt officials.
Preliminary repair activities on the straightening project kicked off on Thursday, anticipating an end within a 48-hour timeframe. However, an unforeseen issue with a sluice valve extended the duration of the repairs, affecting significant areas of the capital. The municipality’s transportation company and the KWA carried on with the tanker operations until Sunday, despite the demand being high.
The Minister of Water Resources, Roshy Augustine, mentioned that a thorough investigation would be carried out to identify the party accountable for the spill that led to a disruption in the provision of potable water for more than four days.