Clean water still a distant dream
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The Kochi Corporation’s initiatives to control tanker lorries supplying drinking water have come a cropper with several of them flouting guidelines and supplying polluted water from the Periyar.
At a meeting convened by mayor Tony Cham-many early in May, tanker owners were directed to register with the local body and to adhere to the guidelines set by it and the district administration. Though the mayor had announced that the registration process would start soon, nothing has happened so far and the month is coming to an end.
Contrary to the mayor’s announcement, now the officials in the corporation say that legal procedures are involved in making the registration compulsory. “We hope to implement it from next year only. With the monsoon round the corner, potable water supply in tankers will not be necessary for the next few months,” was their reasoning in this regard.
The city corporation and district administration had drafted strict regulations for the tankers after noticing that they were plying without adhering to any principle. However, many tankers, despite strict warning from the district collector, still draw water from contaminated sources.
According to residents of Eloor and Muppathadam, drawing water from polluted points of Periyar is still rampant. “The authorities had failed to curb the tankers from drawing water from sources other than those specified by the district administration,” said Jacob Lazar, activist of People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL).
Most high-rise apartments, hotels, hospitals and canteens in the city are solely dependent on the water from tankers.
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