The Hindu : Front Page : New water connections in Tirupur from Saturday

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Sep 06, 2005

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New water connections in Tirupur from Saturday

M. Gunasekaran

Agonising wait comes to an end; process to prepare estimates for 10,000-odd applicants will commence Agonising wait comes to an end; process to prepare estimates for 10,000-odd applicants will commence

TIRUPUR: The agonising wait for the 10,000-odd applicants, seeking new water supply connections in Tirupur town, is nearing its end.

Exactly after a year the Commissioner of Municipal Administration (CMA) had sanctioned 2,000 water connections, the municipality is now preparing estimates to provide the same.

"The local body will start providing new water supply connections to the 400 old applicants from Saturday and simultaneously it would commence the process to prepare estimates for all the 10,000 applicants,'' the Municipal Chairman, M.N. Palanisamy, said.

According to sources, in the water-starved Tirupur, every applicant seeking water connection has a tale to recount. For example, a resident, who applied for a new connection, has been waiting since 1993.

When thousands wanted connections, the CMA sanctioned only 2,000 last year. There were reports that even draw of lots were conducted by some councillors to select the `lucky' and the matter taken up with the Madras High Court.

After the 2001 local body polls, when the new council assumed office, the receipt of applications for new connections were stopped. After a gap of four years, when the municipality resumed receiving applications in March, 9,681 applicants paid deposits (Rs. 5,000 for domestic and Rs. 10,000 for non-domestic connections) through the special online registration counters at the State Bank of India.

Only 400 are genuine

After processing the 966 old applications, which were submitted between 1993 and 2001, the municipality found that only 400 were genuine, Mr. Palanisamy told The Hindu . "We found that large-scale malpractices took place during the period and private plumbers, who collected hefty sum from the public, had played a major role in it,'' he said.

When the officials commenced field enquiry to prepare estimates to provide new connections, they found that most of the names and addresses were bogus, sources said. "We disconnected 22 such connections last month and around 200 unauthorised connections were disconnected during the last four years,'' Mr. Palanisamy said.

Strict conditions

Since the local body does not have adequate staff to provide 10,000 connections, it has decided to involve plumbers again. "Without involving them, we cannot achieve the target. But this time, strict conditions will be imposed," he said.

Registered plumbers should file an affidavit to undertake the work on behalf of the municipality agreeing that if they were found involved in any malpractice, they would be subject to criminal action and a fine of Rs. 1 lakh imposed. After receiving affidavits, the municipality will allot areas to the plumbers.

"Once we provide 2,000 connections, we will obtain permission for the remaining. In all probability, all the 10,000-odd applicants will get new connections before March end,'' he said.

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