A decade on, lack of public cooperation puts underground drainage on hold in Tiruchendur
THOOTHUKUDI: With all efforts of the civic officials in Tiruchendur to implement the Underground Drainage (UGD) scheme going futile over the past decade allegedly due to lack of cooperation from the public, the state government has now come forward to provide the civic body with a loan of Rs 3.4 crore for the works.
Tiruchendur, renowned for the Murugan temple, was recently assigned municipality status. It has 27 wards with a population of around 35,000. Believed to be the second abode of Lord Murugan, the city witnesses an inflow of over 1 crore devotees and tourists every month from across south India. However, the temple city still wears a contaminated look with wastewater and sullage crossing sandy roads and sewage choking the freshwater canals being commonplace ordeals.
According to official sources, the UGD scheme estimated to cost Rs 16 crore began in 2014, when the civic body was a town panchayat. A sewage treatment plant (STP) of 3.9 MLD capacity was constructed as part of the project at Thoppur. However, the residents have not paid deposits and availed themselves of the STP connections, they said. The deposit amount for each house ranges between Rs 5,000 and Rs 15,500 based on the size of the housing plot, whereas for commercial establishments it ranges between Rs 8,000 and Rs 5 lakh. Though the tariff had not been revised despite Tiruchendur becoming a municipality, the public has shown little interest in the project, said another official.
Greesh Kumar, an advocate from Tiruchendur, opined that the general public believes the STP at Thoppur to be a failure, as the UGD is choking and leaking at multiple places. The locals should have been first taken into confidence and their fears allayed. Awareness about the necessity to utilise this facility with regard to maintaining hygiene in the city needs to be disseminated, he added.
Tiruchendur municipal chairman Siva Anandhi said so far only around 300 connections had been availed. As a part of an awareness campaign, the chairman had told the public leaders and councillors, that new roads will be prioritised for the areas only where the public avails the UGD connections, she said.
Residents said the lack of a proper UGD framework has led to extensive pollution of water drains, which previously used to discharge excess fresh water from the irrigation tanks of Thamirabarani river basin into the Gulf of Mannar. For the past five decades, several households and commercial establishments have been draining both liquid and solid wastes into the stormwater drains and canals here.
Speaking to TNIE, Tiruchendur Municipal commissioner T Velavan said the UGD scheme implementation was charted for 17 wards out of the total of 27 wards. The scheme aimed to provide 3,617 connections at 292 residential streets and 91 commercial streets. It would have benefited at least 25,000 residents, he said. Another senior official said that the STP functioning at Thoppur, receives an influx of 1.7 MLD as against its full capacity of 3.9 MLD. "Because of the poor inflow of sewage wastes, the STP could not function to its full capacity," he added.
Fisheries minister Anitha R Radhakrishnan, who represents Tiruchendur constituency, has now taken upon himself the Herculean task of completing the project. Appealing to the public to extend cooperation, the minister said Tiruchendur can be on par with Tirupathi, only if the streets are maintained neat and tidy.
In order to find a solution, TWAD Managing Director V Dakshinamoorthy inspected the city recently in the presence of the minister and district collector Dr K Senthil Raj. A senior official said the TWAD is planning to provide Rs 3.4 crore for implementing the UGD scheme. It has also been decided to collect the deposit amount on a weekly basis from the households.