The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : No plan to disturb old drainage system

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Friday, Apr 25, 2008
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

No plan to disturb old drainage system

Staff Reporter

Municipality asked to reduce rate of public contribution

— PHOTO: R.M. RAJARATHINAM

Discussion: A participant rising a point at a consultative meeting held on the implementation of underground drainage project in Pudukottai on Wednesday.

PUDUKOTTAI: Officials who spoke at the consultative meeting with the members of the public on the execution of underground drainage project in the district, to be taken up in the town shortly, assured that the age-old underground drainage system would not be affected in any manner.

No road will be dug out in all the 16 streets in which the Pudukottai Samasthanam had already set up a full-fledged drainage facility, officials clarified, allaying fears of a section of members of the public who expressed their apprehension over the project.

The Municipal Chairperson, Ramathilagam Udaiyappan, who presided over the meeting, said that the project would be implemented with public contribution, loan and subsidy from the government.

The Municipal Commissioner, S. Siddique, highlighting the special features of the project, traced the success of the project in other districts including Thanjavur and Kumbakonam. He said that the fears expressed by the residents of the houses where the time-tested and full-fledged drainage system had been set up by the erstwhile Pudukottai Samasthanam rulers would not be disturbed.

A number of speakers said that the rate of contribution from the members of the public should be reduced. Councillor Mohan said that the rate for house with an area up to 500 sq.feet had been fixed at Rs.5,000, which he said would affect slum dwellers. Another councillor, Pazhaniappan pleaded for the issue of patta for the ‘kuradu’ (a platform in front of the houses in the town) which was presently a government land.

Ibrahim Babu, another councillor, said that the platform could be rather used as a harvest zone of storm water, on the lines of the one in Karaikal. He said that the Pudukottai Samasthanam had set up the drainage at the backyard of every house and the digging of the houses for burying the pipelines would cause more inconvenience to the residents.

The length of most houses was greater than its width, leaving little space for the residents to dig their earth from the backyard up to the sewer line. Consumer activist Dhanavelu said that the existing drainage system should not be altered in the town. The vice-chairman of the Pudukottai Municipality, Naina Mohammad, was among those who participated.

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