Kalimpong, Feb. 28: People living along the main pipeline of the Neora Water Supply Scheme continue to draw water from it illegally, ignoring administrative threats.

Almost three weeks after a high-powered committee chaired by the Kalimpong subdivisional officer Shakeel Ahmed instructed Neora Water Supply authorities to plug all the illegal connections, The Telegraph discovered that absolutely no action has been taken in this regard.

Prior to the meeting on February 7, members of the committee, including officials from the army station at Durpin, had inspected the pipeline from Algarah to Deola and found as many as 98 illegal connections.

A visit to the area by The Telegraph yesterday showed that the illegal connections are still merrily siphoning off water. When informed, Ahmed said: “If that is the case, I will call another review meeting shortly. If your findings are accurate, I will report the matter to the government.”

He added that neither the Neora water authority nor the DGHC public works department, which is responsible for distributing water within the municipality area, are yet to submit any report to him.

Kalimpong Municipality chairman C. K. Kumai admitted that illegal connections still exist. “I inspected the route twice after February 2 (the date of the first inspection), and people are still illegally siphoning off water. If these agencies can do nothing about it, they should hand over the entire responsibility of managing the water supply scheme to the municipality.”