Mangaluru: The two mainlines that supply water to the city, that were claimed to have soil dumped on them owing to which they faced damage, not only have debris but structures built on them as well.
Replying to a question at a media conference here on Thursday, Deepak Poojary, chairman, Standing Committee for Town Planning and Improvement, Mangaluru City Corporation (MCC), said that two structures have come up on the top of pipelines after they were covered by soil.
Mayor Jacintha Alfred and in-charge Commissioner of the corporation Gokuldas Nayak said that they were collecting details regarding who did land-filling in the Kannur-Adyar area on top of the pipelines.
They said that after identifying the culprits, a case would be filed against them and the cost of lifting the debris from the pipelines would be recovered from them.
But none of the officials or the elected representatives answered why the corporation did not monitor the safety of the pipelines when land-filling was on for some time in the area.
The Mayor said that the borders of the pipelines would be marked and warning boards would be installed. If anybody along the pipeline area from Thumbe to Padil wanted to construct linking roads, they should take permission from the corporation.
Later, at a meeting on the issue, J.R. Lobo, MLA, Mangaluru City South suggested the corporation to study whether it could supply treated water to villages in between Thumbe and Padil through the old 2.5 MGD capacity pipelines. If they supplied treated water, the illegal connections from the two main pipelines could be removed, he said.