MCC to complain against JUSCO at UD meeting in Delhi

Officers allege company is behind set target in 24x7 water supply

With Jamshedpur Utilities and Supply Company (JUSCO) Ltd at the receiving end for water related woes in the city, Mysore City Corporation (MCC) authorities have again decided to apprise the Union ministry of urban development.

Participating in a meeting on raging issue over drinking water supply at the old council hall of MCC here on Saturday, commissioner K S Raykar said he will air the authorities concerned about the unsatisfactory work of JUSCO in the meeting scheduled on February 21 in New Delhi.

Saying that the water woes are sure to increase with the onset of summer, Raykar said the priority on the part of the civic body is to address the complaints if any.

Mincing no words, the commissioner resented that the company is not attending to the complaints on a war footing when compared to the rate of queries received.

Providing the statistics the commissioner said in the month of January of the total 5,422 complaints only 2,957 were attended. Earlier in the month of December last they had attended to 2,424 of the total 4,866 complaints registered.  The commissioner reiterated that he has written to the JUSCO authorities and also Karnataka Urban Water Supply and Sewerage Board (KUWSSB) executive engineer Subbegowda umpteen number of times about the failure on the part of the company.

Inexperienced staff

Subbegowda who was also present at the meeting buttressed the commissioner saying inexperienced staff in the company is stymying the progress.

He said he had written to the managing director of both water supply board and JUSCO. Moreover the company has been penalised of Rs 2.5 crore for non-execution of work.

JUSCO was handed over with the task of operation and maintenance of water supply in July 2009 at an estimated cost of Rs 164 crore.

It was intended at round the clock water supply in the MCC limits, also a first of its type.
Agreement

According to the agreement the deadline set was connecting 1.7 lakh houses by December 2012.

However, they have connected only 50,000 houses against the target of 70,000 till now. 

Complying with the agreement, the MCC has been supplying adequate water from the source, Subbegowda said.

Earlier cutting across party barriers, corporators demanded the commissioner to address the issue  at the earliest.

Mayor Pushpalata Chikkanna, deputy mayor M J Ravikumar, former mayor Ayub Khan, opposition leader Vidya Urs and others attended the meeting.