The reverse osmosis (RO) water purifier unit installed at Utnal village, 18 km from the city, becomes non-functional quite regularly.
“It has become the order of the day that this machine stops dispensing water. We are forced to use borewell water as it takes weeks for the machine to repair,” said Sajid Inamdar, a resident of the village. Such complaints of RO units not functioning have become common.
After receiving barrage of such complaints of RO units becoming non-functional on a regular basis in rural areas, the government has decided to privatise the maintenance work of all RO units installed in the State.
Till now, there was no specific provision made by the government on the maintenance and the upkeep of these RO units.
These RO units are installed by multiple agencies in the State, such as Karnataka Rural Infrastructure Development Limited (KRIDL), zilla panchayat’s Engineering Department, cooperatives etc.
While units installed by KRIDL has been getting separate funds for maintenance, no such provision made for the units installed by ZP. Thus the ZP had to use funds from different heads of account meant for providing drinking water.
“To resolve this problem, the government has decided privatise the maintenance of RO units of the State which is expected to address the issue being faced by the government,” said Vikas Suralkar, ZP Chief Executive Officer.
Speaking to The Hindu, he said that the tenders to be called after the poll code is lifted.
“The agency will be responsible for upkeep of the unit for a year,” he said.
Giving data of Vijayapura district, he said that of the total 849 RO plants sanctioned for the district, 811 have been installed so far while 38 are yet to be installed and commissioned.
Some 23 plants are not working for various reasons including non availability of water, repair etc.