The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Alandur to cut sewerage charges

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jul 01, 2004

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Alandur to cut sewerage charges

By Our Staff Reporter

CHENNAI, JUNE 30. The Alandur Municipality Council on Tuesday passed a resolution to reduce the monthly charges for the underground sewage network, commissioned in parts of the municipality area from July 2003.

The resolution, tabled by the municipal chairman, R.S. Bharathi, follows demands to reduce charges from councillors and the deputy chairman in previous council meetings, claiming the present tariff was out of the reach of many residents. The recommendation for reducing the monthly sewer charges would be sent to the government, he said.

The municipality has already served notices asking most of the 6,000-odd households that have been given house service connections during the first phase to pay Rs. 150 as monthly charges. The notice also says water and sewer connections will be disconnected if the charges are not paid by the fifth of every month. The residents have since been clamouring for a reduction of the charges to Rs. 50.

During the debate today, a section of the councillors complained that contractors had not filled the gaping trenches that they had dug to provide house sewer connections. This caused hardship to the residents, especially those living on narrow streets, said Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) councillor Manoharan.

Independent councillor Ramadoss said in many areas, the municipality had re-laid roads even before house connections were provided. After hearing them, the chairman asked the municipal officials to attend to the complaints and submit a detailed report by July 10.

The councillors also complained about illegal sewer connections being provided by contractors and suggested appointment of supervisors to check the problem. However, the officials said they had found only one such case so far.

Property tax

When a resolution on computerising property and water tax collections came up, a few councillors said the data was not being accurately fed into the computers. Many residents, they said, had complained that they paid the taxes but could not find their names in the list. The council decided to call for tax payment receipts for the last three years from each household and commercial establishment in the municipal area to correct mistakes in the database.

Mr. Bharathi, who raised the issue of stray dogs, called for relaxation of animal protection rules and said the local bodies should be provided with more teeth to control the problem.

Earlier, All-India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam councillor P. Sivaraj demanded the resignation of the chairman on charges of corruption during the construction of underground sewers. He said in a petition that Mr. Bharathi connived with other DMK councillors to siphon off Rs. 2.25 crores from various schemes. In reply, Mr. Bharathi said he would forward the petition to the Chief Minister's Office for investigation.

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