CHENNAI: The city corporation has now revised the fines for illegal sewage connections to the city’s storm water drains, which eventually make their way into the major waterbodies. However, it remains to be seen if the fines would be enforced, as despite a 2017 amendment of the Chennai City Municipal Corporation Act, 1919 allowing for fines from Rs 5,000 (residential) to Rs 2 lakh (commercial), the corporation officials told TNIE they have not collected any fine yet.
Setting the alarm bells ringing, a recent test on the water sample drawn from a stormwater drain in Thirumangalam showed faecal coliform levels were five times higher than the permissible limit prescribed by the TNPCB. The test was conducted by civil contractor R Rama Rao.
According to the private laboratory report dated July 2, the sample contained 490 MPN/100ml of faecal coliform, higher than the TNPCB’s permissible limit of 100 MPN/100ml.
In addition to microbial contamination, the chemical parameters revealed the Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) was measured at 490 mg/l, almost 10 times the acceptable limit of 50 mg/l, indicating a high level of organic pollutants that can severely reduce oxygen levels in water and endanger aquatic life. The Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) was found to be 185 mg/l, far exceeding the prescribed limit of 10 mg/l. Other test results including Total Suspended Solids (TSS) was at 120 mg/l, against the standard of 30 mg/l, and a total hardness level of 340 mg/l, further indicating poor water quality. The sample also emitted disagreeable odour and showed a high colour intensity of 90 Hazen units, which measures the ‘yellowishness’ of water.
While the corporation has been weaning away from engaging manual labour to desilt the sewage-contaminated storm water drains, workers continue to be forced to step into the sewage.
A Narayanan of Change India who had been fighting against the practice of manual scavenging in all its forms, said, “The existing penalties and policies remain ineffective since authorities have failed to enforce them. They exist only on paper.”
The GCC has now amended the bylaw, increasing penalties to Rs 10,000-Rs 25,000 for ordinary buildings, Rs 50,000-Rs 1 lakh for commercial buildings, and Rs 2 lakh - Rs 5 lakh for multi-storey buildings. These revised fines, announced on June 30, fall under Section 161 of the Tamil Nadu Urban Local Bodies Act, 1998.
A corporation official confirmed no fine has been imposed so far but said a one-month grace period will be given for property owners to remove illegal connections and install proper proper sewage disposal systems.
“During this period, zonal-level officials will be trained to identify such violations through field visits and will be authorised to impose penalties once enforcement begins,” the official added.