MADURAI: Trouble with land acquisition has allegedly delayed the Rs 52.54-crore water scheme project of the Thirumangalam Municipality by five months. Commenced on January 1 last year, the project was initially scheduled for completion in July 2025; now, officials from the Water Resources Department expect the project to be over by December this year.
Sources said drinking water is being supplied to the 20,000-odd households in Thirumangalam Municipality through two schemes --
Tamil Nadu Water Supply and Drainage (TWAD) Board’s combined water scheme supplying 3.3 MLD from Cauvery river and local sources supplying 2.1 MLD from Vaigai river in Thiruvengadam.
“As we decided to develop our sources from the Vaigai river in Mullipallam, a special scheme was devised at a cost of Rs 52.54 crore, under the Kalaignar Urban Development Fund,” said an official from the Thirumangalam municipality.
“With Mullipallam just 25 kilometres away, the new project has the capacity to supply over 4.3 MLD, which will be plentiful for the next 10 years for the residents of the municipality. We are currently constructing five overhead tanks (OHTs) in the municipality.
One of the tanks has a capacity of seven lakh litres, another three lakh litres, and two more with one-lakh-litre capacity each. However, land acquisition for the project, among other issues, caused the delay,” said the official. The project initially faced a five-month delay in the tender process, and the work commenced only during the second week of June 2024, said the official.
The land earmarked for the pumping station belonged to the Public Works Department (PWD), for which a no-objection certificate was required, he said. “As the pipelines are 25 kilometres long, several key locations fell under the Public Works Department. This delayed the project, which is now expected to be completed by December,” he added.
Speaking to TNIE, an official from the Water Resources Department (WRD) said, “The source of the pumping station and the well was located in Mullipallam village along the Vaigai river. They sought permission to use a 1,200-sq-ft land parcel owned by the WRD (Vaigai Basin). Initially, the municipality did not include drawings and sketch plans with its request letter. Later, after they sent all the documents, we approved the request and the NOC was given last year itself.”