Now, a squad to plug leaks in KWA pipelines

Jisha Surya
February 28, 2014

Thiruvananthapuram: At last, Kerala water authority (KWA) seems to have learned the prevention-is-better-than-cure lesson. With half of the water being brought from Aruvikkara reservoir getting wasted midway due to leaks and faulty meters affecting billing process for the transmitted water, KWA has formed a leak detection squad to identify and plug leaks in pipes.

Non-revenue water management wing of KWA has formed the squad. The replacement of faulty metres will be launched soon at Kowdiar, which will be extended to other parts of the city as well.

The leak detection squad, which currently has two assistant engineers, two overseers, a plumber and a surveyor, is working based on the complaints. “Our plan is to develop the squad in such a way that it could conduct area-wise regular checking in pipelines,” said K S Praveen, assistant executive engineer, NRW management.

The department has procured four acoustic leak detectors, one metallic pipe locator, three valve detectors and a GPS tracking instrument. KWA is planning to procure more devices for the smooth functioning of the squad.

“Mostly it is difficult to ensure 100% accuracy in detecting the leak. However, with these devices we hope to identify and plug leaks,” Praveen said. The squad currently works during night. “The posts of two assistant engineers are vacant now. We hope to fill them soon,” he added.

To check the extend of loss caused by inaccurate metering the NRW has launched a pilot study to change faulty meters. As a first step 3,000 meters, mostly under non-domestic category, in Kowdiar areas will be replaced with new ones certified by Fluid Control Research Institute in Palakkad.

“During a recent study, we have found that there was a 25% increase in billing when some meters were replaced at a particular area as part of JNNURM project. Based on this, we will replace 3,000 meters in Kowdiar section and will inspect for a period of six months to check whether there is any major difference in billing,” Praveen said.

Currently, KWA has not set any standard for meters. Consumers can buy their choice of meters. In most non-domestic categories meters are often not in working condition. Once the pilot study proves that there is revenue loss due to meter inaccuracy, the KWA might adopt standards for buying meters.

Cut in land price deals residents a blow

Jisha Surya
February 27, 2014

Thiruvananthapuram: The district administration has come up with a fresh offer for the people who face eviction on the Mukkola-Karode stretch during the widening of Kazhakkoottam-Karode national highway. After the district administration backtracked from the offer announced in the district level purchase committee (DLPC) meeting, the people were informed the other day that they would get around Rs 3.769 lakh per cent. The amount was finalized by considering a base price of Rs 3.32 lakh per cent and 10% solatium.

The new amount is much lower than the amount announced at the DLPC meet, which was around Rs 5.25 lakh per cent. District collector Biju Prabhakar told TOI that those who have complaints can apply for arbitration. The district collector will be the arbitrator to hear complaints against the amount fixed by special deputy collector. Though the price was finalized for three panchayats –– Kottukal, Kanjiramkulam and Thirupuram–– no decision has been taken on Chenkal and Karode panchayats.

As per the new offer, A class land (land near PWD road) will get Rs 3.769 lakh. B Class (land near panchayat roads) lands will get Rs 3.39 lakh, while C Class (interior regions) will get Rs 3.01 lakh. D Class (marshy lands) will get Rs 2.63 lakh and E class (paddy lands) will get Rs 1.809 lakh.

Action council members said that most of the people will go for arbitration to get a better deal. “We want the district administration to announce price for all panchayats together,” action council chairman V Sudhakaran said.

The people at the area are also miffed by the fact that they were being kept in dark regarding the land acquisition proceedings. “After DLPC, people believed that they could finally get money for their land. Some had borrowed money for huge interest believing that they would get the amount soon. However, the authorities haven’t informed us that the decisions of DLPC have been cancelled,” Sudhakaran said. “Unless the government announces the price for Chenkal and Karode panchayats, we will go for agitation,” he added.

The collector also said that they were yet to finalize base price for Chenkal and Karode regions.

Grab the Golden Opportunity, Learn something New

Jisha Surya
February 18, 2014

Thiruvananthapuram: MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) have been a buzz in the global education sector for the past one year. The vast opportunity to learn from the best universities in the world absolutely free of cost, sadly, remains unexplored by the higher education sector in the state. For a few early birds in the state, who are taking the advantage of MOOCs, the online courses are something with focus on knowledge than a certificate.

One of the most popular facilities for online education is Coursera, which offer courses of more than 90 top universities in the world absolutely free of cost. Vipin V S, manager of Pearson Education Services Pvt. Ltd, who did a two-month course on Gamification through Coursera, said of late more and more people are logging into MOOCs which enables people to access courses from best universities at a remote location. “The tutorials were in a video format. I had to submit assignments every week. One of the interesting aspects was an online form, where students can discuss on their subject,” he said.

Most of the subjects taken in Massachusetts Institute of Technology are available free in its open online platform, MIT OpenCourseWare. EdX, another online platform, offers courses from almost 30 top universities.

“Unlike the traditional courses, courses offered through MOOCs are well updated and the best in content. If education is important for you than a certificate, then MOOCs is something for you,” said Mukesh M G, an employee of Technopark, who recently did a diploma in Web Business Development through an online platform Alison. “It was a one-month course. You will be given test after completion of one module. There will be an assessment test after completion of course. If you need certificate, you have to pay according to the course. My diploma certificate could cost around Rs 16,000. I didn’t ask for certificate because my purpose was to know more about web business development,” Mukesh said.

Kerala State Higher Education Council vice chairman T P Sreenivasan said 2013 was year of MOOCs. However, still the universities in Kerala are yet to open up to the scenario. “I haven’t seen are Universities or professors recommending students to take up MOOCs. In a recently organised international seminar, we have conducted sessions on MOOCs for teachers and students,” he said.

V K Adarsh, IT expert and columnist, said that there must be an Open Courseware repository for Universities in the state where students and teachers can upload education resources such as PowerPoint presentations, lectures etc. “There must be an inter-University centre for Open courseware,” he said.

Quality of content, convenience, cost-effectiveness etc… are some of the specialties cited for MOOCs. According to T P Sreenivasan, MOOCs will be more helpful when students are offered credits for doing such courses.

INFO
Coursera.org – Offers more than 600 courses from around 90 top universities in the world. Courses in around 25 subjects are available in 13 languages.

EdX.org - EdX is a non-profit online initiative based in Cambridge, Massachusetts and is governed by MIT and Harvard. It offers more than 140 courses in around 25 subjects

MITOpenCourseware (ocw.mit.edu) – OCW is a web-based publication of virtually all MIT course content. OCW has shared materials from more than 2000 courses of MIT.

Stanford online (online.stanford.edu) - Stanford online offers an array of free online courses taught by Stanford faculty.

Duolingo (duolingo.com) - Duolingo offers completely free language education

CodeAcademy (www.codecademy.com) - CodeAcademy teaches programming and coding in free and interactive lessons.

A complete list of free online courses offered by the best universities is available in MOOC List (www.mooc-list.com)

KWA wakes up late to pongala

Jisha Surya
February 15

Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala Water Authority (KWA) has convened a meeting a week ago to discuss the implementation of suggestions put forward by the K Jayakumar Commission.

The commission was constituted a year ago after a pipe burst on the eve of Attukal pongala had threatened to disrupt the largest congregation of women in the world.

Though the commission had submitted its report—with suggestions to avoid disruption in water supply—in April 2013, the KWA took up the matter for discussion only last week. Ruling out sabotage, the report had blamed ‘water hammer’ (the sudden pressure buildup in pipeline) for the burst in the main transmission line.

The line had burst simultaneously at Koottapara, Karakulam, Paravoorkonam and Peroorkada. The commission also found that the sudden closure of the valve had resulted in water hammer.

The panel reported that the valves were operated without a broader focus. Instead, it focused only on replenishing water in the tank meant to cater to the pongala needs. The commission blamed that the valves were managed without supervision, and in an unprofessional, insecure and vulnerable manner.

“The manner in which valves are installed and maintained is indeed pathetic. In many places, they are not secured. Anybody with a pipe range can operate the valves. Any miscreant can play havoc with the system. Entry to these valve chambers is neither controlled nor monitored properly. The log system is almost non-existent and even where it exists, its authenticity and credibility is doubtful,” the commission noted.

The managing director of the KWA, Ashok Kumar Singh, recently convened a meeting of his officials and asked them to monitor valves properly. KWA executive engineering Prakash Idicula said a 24-hour monitoring mechanism has been put in place to ensure the safety of valves.

“A four-member team, which would also have an assistant engineer and overseer, will inspect every five-km stretch of pipeline. Three such squads are functioning,” he said.

The officials, however, admitted that the squad was introduced just three days ago. Though the commission had asked to use lock mechanism to keep the valves safe, it was termed unpractical.