CHENNAI: While the Tambaram corporation has wasted no time in resuming underground drainage work in some areas after the withdrawal of northeast monsoon and in preparing detailed project reports for others, it is struggling to find parcels of land for pumping stations.
After the rains, the corporation began underground drainage work in Anakaputhur and Pammal. The project has been taken up at an estimated cost of Rs 211 crores - Rs 101.5 crore for Pammal, Rs 60.67 crore for Anakaputhur and Rs 48.9 crore for sewage treatment plants, according to officials.
Work is set to be completed by December this year. In the recently added areas like Sembakkam, Peerkankaranai, Perungulathur, Chitlapakkam etc., detailed project reports are being prepared. “The DPR has almost been finalised.
One of the major challenges we have is the identification of feasible land parcels for pumping stations and in some areas even if the land is available, objections are raised,” said a corporation official. The corporation is looking to turn to OSR lands among others and put the project back on track.
However, this is not the first time trouble in the transfer of lands has affected underground drainage projects in these areas. In 2011, the proposal for underground drainage in the then-town panchayats of Peerkankaranai, Chitlapakkam and other areas was put forth.
However, according to official documents, the project was dropped citing the financial position of these town panchayats and the ‘delay in transfer of land required for construction of sewage pumping stations and treatment plants.’ With several areas in the newly formed Tambaram corporation yet to have functional underground drainage systems, any further delay would lead to untreated sewage finding its way to the waterbodies directly or indirectly, fear residents.
“This problem (in the transfer of land for pumping stations) arises when the local body searches for land after large-scale development has already taken place. If the land had been earmarked earlier, residents would have had the option of settling down near the site or not,” said Viswanathan, a resident of Sembakkam.