15 water tanker lorries seized

KOCHI: The special squad set up to monitor the distribution of potable water seized 15 tanker lorries carrying contaminated water to various parts of the city on Wednesday.The inspection was conducted in the Kakkanad and Kalamassery areas. “The tankers were carrying contaminated water. The seized water was drained off on the spot,” said P N Sreenivasan, District Health Officer (Rural).“The seized vehicles have been handed over to the police. None of the vehicles had the documents as stipulated by the authorities,” he said.In the wake of an outbreak of water-borne diseases, district Collector P I Sheikh Pareeth had constituted a special squad comprising officials from the health, police, revenue and motor vehicles departments to inspect the tankers.Besides, the District Collector had on Tuesday banned the collection of drinking water from different sources including river Periyar. The Collector had also restricted collection of water only from 27 sources certified by the Department of Health. It has also been directed in the order that those who distribute water through tankers should maintain a log regarding the source of water and the time of collection.Meanwhile, the Motor Vehicles Department also conducted an inspection on tankers in the Tripunithura region but no vehicles were seized. “The inspection was conducted on 18 tankers and eight of them were found wanting in terms of the fitness of the vehicles. Fines has been exacted from operators of such vehicles. We did not look into the quality of the water as we did not have food safety experts with us,” said Reji, Joint RTO.