Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Project office of JNNURM opened

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The biggest challenge relating to the implementation of the water supply and sewerage schemes envisaged under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) and the Asian Development Bank-funded sewerage rehabilitation scheme in Thiruvananthapuram would be the timely completion of the projects, Minister for Water Resources N. K. Premachandran has said.

He was speaking after inaugurating the project office of the JNNURM scheme, here on Thursday. Suburban panchayats and areas newly annexed to the City Corporation will get drainage systems under the JNNURM scheme. Of the Rs.302.57 crore received by the Corporation under this scheme, Rs.215.41 crore would be for sewerage projects and Rs.87.16 crore, for drinking water schemes. The projects are to be completed by the eighth month of the year 2010, he pointed out.

“In all, the State will be spending nearly Rs.1,000 crore over the next three years on drinking water and sewerage schemes. It is doubtful though how many people in the State have taken note of such development activities. The State seems to be caught up in one controversy or the other,” he said.

Mr. Premachandran said public persons — including MLAs and the Minister himself — would be charged with criminal liability if someone decided to file a public interest litigation in the courts about the sorry state of the drainage system in the capital city. So, along with the installation of new facilities it is also important to rehabilitate the old system, he said.

The ordinance amending the Water Supply Act and Rules provides for stringent action against the misuse of drinking water. For a first-time detection of an unauthorised drainage connection the fine would be Rs.10,000; the connection would also be cut. For a repeat offence, the fine would be Rs.25,000 and the offender would be liable for rigorous imprisonment of six months. The same punishment and fines would hold true for unauthorised water supply connections.

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