The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Tonnes of debris put to good use

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Jan 09, 2005

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Tonnes of debris put to good use

By R.K. Radhakrishnan

CHENNAI, JAN. 8. A major problem confronting the people and the administration in the tsunami-hit areas is the clearing of rubble. The debris of homes and establishments along the coast runs into hundreds of thousands of cubic feet and the traditional solution of dumping rubble in low-level areas may not be feasible. There are not enough such locations nearby, say administrators.

In the island of Akkaraipettai near Nagappatinam, the administration in consultation with the Army and the people decided to use the rubble to construct a causeway across the Kaduvaiyar, the river that runs between the fishing hamlet and Nagapattinam.

The fishermen in the area complained to the authorities that though work on a new bridge to connect Akkaraipettai with Nagapattinam had begun sometime ago, it was nowhere near completion. Asked about this, the officers carrying out relief works in the village said work on the new bridge was in progress. A major construction giant had been awarded the contract for construction of the Rs. 10.8 crore bridge. But they conceded that the people had a point.

Two IAS officers who were at the village during the first days of the tragedy, Vivek Hari Narain and J. Radhakrishnan, recalled the tough time they had in removing boats and trawlers that had landed on the old bridge following the tsunami. There was no alternative path to the village and the officers had to crawl through an opening made in the boats to reach the other side.

The Indian Army's Madras Engineering Group and the administration, which had also roped in Rajesh Lakhani, the new Theni District Collector surveyed the feasibility of using the rubble and TWAD board pipes to construct the causeway that can serve as an alternative pathway to cross the Kaduvaiyar.

After the MEG was convinced of the feasibility, work on the causeway began three days ago. The river is about 15 feet deep. The TWAD board's spare pipes came in handy to allow the free flow of water across the causeway. Already 21 such pipes of 1000 mm diameter have been placed in the river in a rubble bed. The total length of the bridge will be about 110 metres. "In the coming days there will be a lot of reconstruction activity here. The existing bridge will not be able to take the load. Since so much of rubble was available and since there was a need, we decided to construct this new one," said Brigadier Jose Manavalan.

About 300 truckloads of rubble — all sourced from Akkaraipettai — were used for the new causeway. Brig. Manavalan said the causeway was ready this evening. The inauguration was a simple affair: he took his jeep across the causeway to show people that the new bridge could take a significant amount of weight, despite the rough finish. Also on board were the IAS officers.

The next task that the MEG has set for itself is to build a similar causeway across the Kallar, on the other side of Akkaraipettai. This is a slightly longer bridge and will take about three days to build. "The villagers apparently have been demanding a bridge for a very long time across this stretch of tidal backwaters," said Brig. Manavalan. There was only one problem though: with the immediacy of relief works over, the earthmovers were being requisitioned to other places!

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