200 illegal public taps in city; corpn commissioner seeks explanation

Coimbatore: At a time when the city is facing water shortage and only 40 MLD of water is being drawn from the Siruvani water distribution system, some civic body officials have set up Siruvani pipelines and public taps in the south constituency of Coimbatore corporation.
The corporation commissioner, K Vijayakarthikeyan, has asked the engineering officials to submit an explanation for this and enumerate the total number of public taps in the city.
"I have not received the list yet. Once I get it, action would be taken," he said. These pipes are being set up with influence of politicians in the south assembly constituency in areas such as Kurichi, Kuniyamuthur, Ukkadam, Selvapuram and Sundakamuthur.
One councillor from Ukkadam said that these pipelines were being laid in his ward even without his knowledge. "I did not raise an objection because the public would benefit from this," he said.
As per norms, the civic body cannot set up public taps without getting council sanction. Only in wards reserved as Scheduled Caste, these taps can be set up. "But the civic body should pass a resolution in the corporation council to set them up in SC wards as well," said M Selvamani, corporation councillor from the Indian National Congress party.
Sadik Ali, independent councillor, said the corporation stopped setting up public taps as many people began misusing it. "Individual house connections are being issued. If public taps are set up, water usage cannot be monitored," said Sadik Ali.
Civic body officials have set up close to 200 illegal Siruvani public taps in the southern constituency of Coimbatore, said corporation sources. The work began before the assembly elections and is still going on in Selvapuram area. With local body elections, a few months away, councillors alleged that this was a move to attract voters.
Some officials said that a few ruling party councillors had only set these taps up in areas where they stayed. Councillors and activists questioned the move with the city facing huge water scarcity.
"This is not only against the norms but also unfair to other residents in the city," said a councillor.
But the corporation executive engineer (in-charge for South zone), Gnanavel denied these allegations, saying these were rumours were being spread by some miscreants.