THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Kottayam Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum has directed the Kerala Water Authority (KWA) to reinstate water supply to an elderly couple and pay Rs 8,000 for disruption of service despite receiving advance payments. The complaint against the Authority was registered by 87-year-old Ravindran Nair of Vadayar, Kottayam. According to him, KWA has been supplying water regularly for 10 years, but it turned erratic later. He had remitted the water charge in advance till March, 2017.
But from June 2016, the Authority failed to provide water to him. A complaint was sent to KWA through a registered post in August. The KWA, however, did not care to redress his grievances, the complainant alleged. Mr Nair, who lives with his 80-year-old wife, said he could not fetch water from a public tap located 1.5km from the house. With this, the elderly couple approached the forum pointing out deficiency in service despite advance payment of bills.
KWA contested that it had directed a licensed plumber to inspect the connection. The non-availability of water was found to be due to the damage in the pipe line, which might have occurred during the maintenance of the public road. KWA claimed that it had intimated the same to Mr Nair. However, the forum rejected the Water Authorities claims and ordered it to pay Rs 5,000 as compensation and Rs 3,000 as litigation cost, and reinstate connection.
