'City to get ADB aided drinking water supply within 4 months'

Mayor Shankar Bhat and corporators to inspect compost plant

Addressing the ADB review meeting at Mangalore City Corporation on Wednesday, KUDCEMP Superintending Engineer Syed Ilias Pasha said that within 4 months, the city will get the benefits of the ADB aided drinking water supply project.

Informing the gathering on the status of water supply project, Pasha said that at present 18 MGD of water is being supplied and with the completion of the project, another 18 MGD will be supplied. “Water has been pumped till Padil and water has been pumped independently to Ullasnagar, Shaktinagar and Bikarnakatte. Testing is going on at Tiruvail and Kudupu. At this stage, additional 4 MGD water is being received in the city. Testing and commissioning will take another 6 months and within 2 months span, water will proliferate outside old Mangalore and reach Surathkal and Panambur region,” said Pasha.

Many of the members of the Corporation brought to the notice of the officials various places where there is drinking water problem or no pipelines have been laid.

Answering them, Pasha said that the works which have been mentioned in the contract of 2003 will be taken up. Any area mentioned in the contract, which has been left out for some reason will be taken up but no new extension works will be taken up at any cost.
Mayor Shankar Bhat presiding over the meeting said that KUIDFC officials must leave the place only after the entire project is completed. Responding to this, Pasha said that the MCC officials will be handed over with the CDs and soft copies of the project giving complete details of the placement of valves etc so that they can tackle the problem even in absence of KUIDFC engineers.

Compost plant

The Compost Plant at Pacchanady ruled the roost at the meeting and accordingly Mayor Shankar Bhat resolved to visit the plant and inspect the working of the plant, along with MCC members and officials concerned.

MCC Environment Engineer Madhu said that the unit has been built at a cost of Rs 6 crore. It was handed over to MCC in June 2008 and was inaugurated in August 2008.
Interrupting him, Corporator Mariamma Thomas sought clarification as to why the plant was not used from August to January.

Madhu said that since segregation of waste is not happening at the source itself, over 225 tonnes of unsegregated waste is dumped at the unit, where there is no chance of segregation. Further, since the capacity of the unit is only 125 tonnes, the unit was not used during the said period.

He said that at present since door-to-door waste collection is happening to some extent, the unit is running at minimal basis.

When Madhu said that there are 42 vehicles deployed for waste collection and over 12 employees are working in the unit, Opposition Leader Harinath took exception and said that if there are 42 vehicles, why they are not seen. “In my ward the vehicle comes once in 2 or 3 days,” he said.

Corporator Harish opined that the problem of waste disposal cannot be solved and the unit cannot be utilised at its best till door-to-door waste collection happens. He suggested that single package system and door-to-door collection must be implemented effectively.

Under Ground Drainage

With regard to UGD works, the Mayor resolved to seek additional funds from the government to provide UGD system in old Mangalore region.

KUIDFC Superintendent Engineer Maninarayana said that the UGD works will be completed by March 2010 and at present, Rs 135 crore has been spent out of the total project cost of Rs 207 crore, which means over 60 per cent works have been completed.
When the members complained that UGD pipes have not been laid in certain areas, Maninarayana informed that in old Mangalore, which includes regions like Pandeshwara, Barke, Kodialbail, Bolar, Bolur, Bunder railway track to Nithyananda ashram, the old UGD lines are functioning and these lines have not been replaced. Hence these lines cannot be linked.

When the officials said that replacing these lines is the only solution to avoid problems, Mayor said that Government will be urged to release additional funds to take up pipeline replacement works.

MCC in-charge Commissioner Ramesh, KUDCEM Project Director J R Lobo, Deputy Mayor Rajni Dugganna were present.