Efforts by the Kerala Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (Kinfra) to resume pipe-laying for the 45-million-litres-per-day (MLD) water supply project from Thottumugham on the banks of the Periyar to Kinfra’s Export Promotion Industrial Park near Infopark, Kakkanad, had to be halted following protests by Congress MLAs and activists on Tuesday.
Dramatic scenes unfolded at the work site at Thottumugham after MLAs Anwar Sadath and Uma Thomas led a protest march around 11 a.m. The Kinfra authorities had sought additional police deployment after efforts to start pipe-laying work were disrupted by Congress MLAs and workers on February 19. They had alleged that the government was adamant on going ahead with the project to meet the needs of industrial units at Kinfra park in Kakkanad without addressing the serious water scarcity faced by residents.
