Kerala Water ‘Authority’ should be changed as Water Service

By O.J.George

This may sound non-serious, but a name is a name and it denotes some characteristics.

The people working in the ‘Authority’ may think that there is no authority above them and that if they don’t show mercy, the common mortals would be denied of water that is the essential ingredient of life.

The other day, one ‘Authority’ man simply closed the water connection to the residence of T.J.Chandrachoodan in Thiruvananthapuram.

He is the national general secretary of the Revolutionary Socialist Party which is a partner of the LDF.

And RSP’s nominee, N.K.Premachandran, is the Water Resources Development Minister.

It was generous on the part of Premachandran, who is a well-meaning and affable person, to have called on the people at the residence of Chandrachoodan and pacified them.

This should be taken as an example to undertake reforms in the water resources service agency.

I was ignorant about the illegal protocol at the Water Authority offices until I had a problem.

Some work was undertaken by the panchayat on the road when the pipeline developed leak there. I promptly informed the ‘Authority’ about the leak and wastage of water. One person came and just closed the water connection to my residence.

I thought he was an employee of the ‘Authority’. After firing verbal expletives he took out a receipt book and ticked one entry. The slip was thrown into my residential compound.

The ticked item read the householder should do the work on the road to the satisfaction of the ‘Authority’.

The receipt has the printed designation of the engineer. The not-so-gentle man put ‘for’ and signed on behalf of the engineer and threw the slip into the compound.

Later it was known that the worker had nothing to do with Water Authority. He is a contractor engaged by the ‘Authority’. It was he who signed the order to the householder by way of the slip.

Areas are allotted to such contractors who go about extracting money from nearby householders if a leak develops on the public road.

A neighbour was forced to give Rs 3,000, a lady, for the work undertaken on the public road.

This is only one instance and there may be untold miseries suffered by the common man for getting water from the water ‘Authority’.

Such illegal practices should be summarily deleted from the service. The very name,’Authority’ is odious.