MADURAI: The Madurai city corporation hopes to complete the process of fixing water meters in household pipe connections by the end of this year. According to corporation sources, there are 2.8 lakh individual house connections in the corporation limits. Work to fix meters started in April 2024 and so far, 80% has been completed.
The meters are being installed under the AMRUT scheme in two phases. Once the project ic completed, consumers will be charged a fee for the volume of water they have used, just like how power consumption is calculated and charged.
According to data shared by corporation officials, there are 2,86,208 individual house service connections in the city. (95,250 connections given under AMRUT package-4 and 1,63,958 connections under AMRUT package-5). So far, the corporation has installed 2,38,167 water meters.
Work is underway to install the remaining 48,041 meters by the end of the year. Apart from AMRUT scheme, there are 27,000 connections under the smart city.
Solai M Raja, AIADMK floor leader in the corporation council and ward 64 councillor said, "The corporation had earlier proposed to install digital meters which could be centralised and monitored easily, but is now fixing conventional analog meters. Corporation should have installed digital meters, as conversion into digital would lead to unnecessary expenditure."
A senior official from the city corporation said the deadline for the project is December 2025 and they are on track. The work is carried out in a phased way so as to meet the deadline. Clarifying about the use of analogue meter, a senior official said they have provision for conversion.
Speaking about the ongoing Periyar drinking water project, an official said the work is being carried out in a brisk pace and water supply has started in some parts of the city.