With approvals pending, plumbers jobless

R Francis*, a plumber with the Coimbatore City Municipal Corporation, has now not received any paintings order for a 12 months now. He had paid a deposit of Rs 2 lakh to get registered as a corporation-licensed plumber for water supply paintings.

"But I am jobless for a year now. I have taken loans to run my family and am doing odd jobs to make ends meet," he said.

Another plumber, Murali*, said he used to supply no less than 10 water connections every month until ultimate September.

"We earned around Rs 20,000 per month. But now we get calls when there is some pipeline leakage and sometimes for months we don't receive any call," he said.

Ranjith Kumar, secretary of the

Coimbatore Corporation Licensed Plumbers Association, said the same has been the plight of 86 plumbers registered with the corporation. "Since the civic frame has stopped giving new water connections,

those plumbers are being forced to seek jobs elsewhere," he said, including that the ultimate time the corporation gave a water connection was once on October 12, 2016.

Plumbers said they received calls almost each day from residents asking when the corporation would procedure their packages. "Since we have been doing this work, residents call us every day. One resident from S K R Nagar in Kavundamapalayam calls me every day asking if the corporation has resumed providing water connections. But I have no answer for that," said Francis.

While the likes of Francis and Murali are doing unusual jobs to run their families, different corporation plumbers said they are banking on underground drainage paintings

for money.

"We have to pay separate deposits for separate work," said a plumber. "We met the corporation commissioner and sought a solution. He has assured us that the work would resume soon," said a plumber.

*(names modified on request)