Digging up newly-tarred roads for water supply works: Kerala government constitutes monitoring committee for Thiruvananthapuram city

The State government has constituted a monitoring committee headed by the Managing Director (MD), Kerala Water Authority (KWA), to “monitor and coordinate” work related to the digging up of roads for water supply works in Thiruvananthapuram city.

The move comes months after the Kerala State Human Rights Commission issued directives in this regard to the Water Resources department and the KWA. The five-member panel will monitor works undertaken by both the KWA as well as other agencies, the Water Resources department said in a July 28 order.

The panel has the KWA chief engineer (southern region) as convener, and KWA chief engineer (projects and operations), Chief Executive Officer, Smart City Thiruvananthapuram, and chief engineer (roads), Public Works department, as members.

Seeks coordination

The human rights panel had sought measures for ensuring coordination among government agencies in the case of roads under the Thiruvananthapuram Smart City project. The committee has been formed on the basis of orders in this regard issued by the commission in August, 2024 and March, 2026.

Frequent digging up of newly-resurfaced roads in the capital city for drawing water supply pipelines or repairing leaks have always been a source of friction among government agencies as well as between them and the public. In August, 2024, the commission had suo motu registered a case in connection with this issue based on media reports.

In August 2024, the rights panel had directed the Secretary, Water Resources department, to constitute a special team comprising the KWA MD, chief engineer and other senior engineers for addressing complaints that smart roads on which first-phase tarring had been completed were being dug up again for providing drinking water connections.

In June this year, the commission had also issued a summons to the Principal Secretary, Water Resources department, and the MD, KWA, for failing to comply with its earlier directives to form a special team to monitor the digging up of roads or finding a lasting solution to complaints in this regard.