Bantwal MLA Rajesh Naik Ulipady has directed municipal authorities to clean the drinking-water purification unit at Jakribettu within two days after complaints that waste, sludge and algae had accumulated at the facility and that contaminated water was being supplied to residents.
The legislator inspected the purification unit under Bantwal municipality on Monday following complaints from members of the public. During the visit, he warned that he would join citizens to clean the facility himself if the authorities did not complete the work within the stipulated period.
The complaints relate to the unit that supplies drinking water to people living within Bantwal municipality limits. The report said the facility was found with accumulated waste, mud and algae. Residents had raised concerns that the condition of the unit could be linked to the supply of contaminated water, making the matter a public-health issue for the municipal area.
Naik said officials could not be allowed to neglect public health. He warned municipal authorities that inaction on the condition of a drinking-water treatment facility would not be acceptable. The report did not specify the volume of water affected, the number of households supplied by the unit or whether laboratory testing had confirmed contamination.
The MLA also spoke to the deputy commissioner by telephone and informed the district administration about the condition of the facility. The report did not include a separate statement from the municipal authorities, details of an inspection report or information on whether water distribution from the unit had been suspended during the proposed cleaning.
Drinking-water purification units require regular cleaning and operational maintenance because the quality of water supplied to households depends not only on the source but also on the condition of treatment and storage infrastructure. In this case, the reported accumulation of waste, sludge and algae has drawn attention to the maintenance of a facility serving an urban local-body area.
Former Bantwal municipal councillors A. Govinda Prabhu, Gangadhar Poojary, Vidyawati Pramod, Rekha Pai and Hariprasad, along with Vikas Puttur, Shivaprasad Shetty, Ramadas Bantwal, Suresh Kulal, Janardhan Bondal, Purushotham Shetty Vamadapadavu, Ganesh Das, Pranama Ajjibettu and Vasantha Bhandary, were present during the inspection, according to the report.
The immediate deadline set by the MLA is for municipal authorities to clean the Jakribettu drinking-water purification unit within two days. Further information on the cleaning work, water-quality testing and any corrective measures was not provided in the report.
