A feud seems to be on between the Thrikkakara municipality and the Kerala Water Authority (KWA) over the total number of connections for public taps in the municipality and the bills due in that regard.
The KWA has slapped the municipality with pending dues in excess of ₹75 lakh, which the latter has contested and kept in abeyance over the continuing conflict over the number of public tap connections. While the KWA puts the number at 411, the municipality counters that the numbers come just a fraction of it to 175.
“The KWA has been charging us in excess of ₹21,000 a year for a public tap connection for the last several years. Since, by our estimates, the number of public taps is way less than those that have been assessed by the KWA, it appears that we have been paying for non-existent taps. We will not clear the dues unless the anomaly is fixed through a joint inspection by municipal and KWA officials,” said P.M. Younus, municipal vice chairman and chairman of the finance standing committee of the municipality.
The KWA, on its part, said the municipality had not raised any formal objection over the matter yet. “Anyway, we are ready for a joint inspection to review the number of public tap connections though it is a laborious task involving the coverage of all the 42 divisions. However, we are very much convinced that the number cannot be as low as the municipality has come up with considering that there are 42 divisions, and each division will have adequate number of public tap connections. The increase in water charges getting reflected in the pending bills could be a reason why they have developed doubts about public tap connections,” said a KWA official.
Once the KWA ascertains the number of public taps, there is hardly any stocktaking thereafter other than disconnecting or adding more connections as per demand. While both the parties remain open to a joint inspection, a date for it remains to be decided yet.
