Mangaluru, Jan 11: Deputy Commissioner A.B. Ibrahim has asked the Mangaluru City Corporation to clear the encroachments in the right of way along the main water supply lines between Thumbay and Padil by the end of January to prevent another water crisis in the city.
Mr. Ibrahim said at a meeting that despite giving several instructions, the corporation had not removed the soil and debris dumped on top of the water supply lines.
In August last, the city went without water for five days after pipelines near Kannur broke as pipelines broke due to land filling and dumping of debris. The corporation should have repaired it within 24 hours. But it took five days for the civic body to resume water supply.
Even after several rounds of meetings, the corporation had not removed the mud dumped on its pipelines, Mr. Ibrahim said. “They have not removed even a lorry load of mud,” he alleged.
N. Shivashankar Swami, Deputy Commissioner (Development), said that the corporation had identified and marked the boundaries of the pipelines. Notices had been served on 52 persons who had either encroached upon the right of way area or who had dumped debris on the pipelines. Final notice would be served on them and encroachments would be removed later, he said.
J.R. Lobo, MLA, Mangaluru City South, and Ivan D’Souza, MLC, said that there was no need for the corporation to serve notices as the land had been acquired by it for laying pipelines. It was its own land. What was the need for a notice, they asked. Mr. Lobo asked the corporation officials to read about the powers conferred to them under the Karnataka Municipal Corporations Act, 1976.
Taking the corporation officials to task, Urban Development Minister Vinay Kumar Sorake said that it was the duty of the corporation to protect its property and conduct an inspection of the pipelines daily.
Mr. Lobo cautioned against making a new proposal to lift water from Thumbe vented dam to supply it to Mudipu, Konaje and Deralakatte areas a reality without having an alternative water source for supplying to the growing Mangaluru city. The MLA, who was formerly a commissioner of the city corporation, said that April and May would be crucial for supplying water to city.



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