High drama over quality of wet well pipes

The Mangaluru City Corporation council meeting on Monday witnessed a high drama by Opposition leader Ganesh Hosabettu.

Ganesh showed a 10 foot-long pipe of a wet well, which he claimed to be of poor quality. He also showed a good quality pipe. Many leaders of the ruling party opposed the move in strong words and called it illegal.

Mayor Kavitha Sanil requested Ganesh to maintain the decorum. Ganesh will be allowed to make his point only after the materials are taken out of the house, she said.

A reluctant Ganesh said that he wanted to convince the council about the poor quality of the pipes installed at the five wet wells in Surathkal when Harinath was the mayor, he said.

However,  a D Group staffer carried the pipes outside. But, Ganesh retained smaller samples of the pipe and said that mild steel pipes have been installed instead of GI pipes. The pipes have started leaking within three months. He claimed that he had no other option than to bring the pipes to the council as nobody took the issue seriously though he has been mentioning it from the past few meetings.

Alleging a huge misappropriation in the work, Ganesh demanded an inquiry into the issue. If the mayor does not order a probe, he said he will file a petition in the Lokayukta.

Several other members too complained about the UGD mismanagement.

The mayor said that the works, pending under the Kudcemp project, will be taken up under Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (Amrut) scheme.

An official said that an estimation has been drawn towards the repair of missing links of UGD in 11 places and also towards development of wet wells, under Amrut scheme.