KOCHI: Call it a lack of initiative from the authorities or a lack of awareness among the public.The fact is, while the private water tanker service operators in the city have been making a killing for the past few days, the Kerala Water Authority has kept a water tanker in waiting for a formal request! A top official with the KWA’s Public Health Division in Pallimukku told City Express that they do not have the provision to take a proactiove stand on supply water to the needy. “A tanker with a capacity of 10,000 litres is ready to supply water but so far no one has requested us for the service,” the official said. Avail oneself of the service by paying Rs 1,300 with the KWA along with the request.“The needy only have to pay the cost of the water and transport charge is free. Our problem is that if we offer the service to one area, then we will have to give it to every body. We have only one tanker with us. So to avoid complaints, the rule states that we can offer our service only if there is a formal request,” the official said.The service has been constituted under the ‘emergency’ condition whereby sudden disruption in water supply for more than a day warrants the KWA water tanker service to be operational. Meanwhile, private operators have been taking `850 per tanker with a capacity of 6,000 litres. The official also said that there has not been a single instance of the KWA water tanker service being used in the past one year or so.“It may be because the people don’t know about it. Also it took nearly six months for us to get a new tanker after the old one was scrapped after six years of service. It has been just one month since we received the new tanker. The lack of KWA’s service during the period could also have put people off,” the official said.
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