Mangalore: Crucial Water Supply Pipe from Thumbe Damaged – Dry Days Loom Ahead
Pics: Dayanand Kukkaje
Daijiworld Media Network - Mangalore (GA)
Mangalore, Nov 24: Residents of the city will surely not have a peaceful sleep on the night of Monday November 24. In the twilight hours of Monday, MCC officials, and engineers were making Herculean efforts to maintain uninterrupted water supply to the city, after the main pipe supplying water from Thumbe vented dam caved in.
Though Navinchandra, president, MCC town planning standing committee, has promised that the pipe will be repaired by 5 am on Tuesday November 25, residents have their own doubts as the MCC has failed miserably when faced with similar situations in the past.
Sources said that the main pipe had been damaged at Valacchil on Monday morning, which was then set right by evening. Following this, water supply was resumed. But owing to increased pressure, the same pipe caved in at Nagori, late in the evening on Monday. While it was a minor damage at Valachil, the pipe developed a huge crack near Nagori pump house.
The locals came to know about the incident after water started gushing with great force. The news was immediately passed on to MCC officials, who arrived at the spot without delay. But, the ferocity with which water is gushing forth, it has become almost impossible to repair the pipe as of now. Mayor Ganesh Hosabettu, and Navinchandra, along with engineers, have camped at the spot and are supervising the repair work.
The main pipe supplying water to the city from Thumbe vented dam, was laid in 1979. It had been damaged once earlier, about 17 years ago. The MCC’s negligence in replacing the old pipe, has now resulted in this new problem, blamed a senior citizen, who recalled the days when the city had faced a severe scarcity of water some years ago, owing to a similar situation.
If the engineers fail to repair the pipe at the earliest, the city is going to face severe scarcity of water in the coming days. Since it is the lifeline of the city, officials need to pull up their socks and complete the repair work in a jiffy so that water supply is resumed at least by dawn on Tuesday.