Corp. appeal to State Govt
Valankulam is among the tanks in the city that are under the control of the Public Works Department. But, the Coimbatore Corporation is desperately trying to take possession of these to develop them into landmarks.The Coimbatore Corporation has made a fervent appeal to the State Government to enable it to take over eight tanks in the city that are now under the control of the Public Works Department (PWD).Mayor R. Venkatachalam made this appeal to Chief Secretary L.K. Tripathy here on Sunday by pointing out that the Corporation had a scheme for the rejuvenation of water resources under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission.The Mayor said after the meeting that the PWD was hesitant in handing over the water bodies to the Corporation. “They want us to get the fund under the mission from the Government and hand it over to them,” he said. “I do not think there is any provision for this.”Mr. Venkatachalam said the Corporation planned to remove silt from the tanks and strengthen their bunds. “We even have plans to create a walkers’ path around the tanks and beautify the surroundings. For all these to happen, we need to have the tanks under our control.”The Corporation also wants to take over the Sanganur Canal. Ten km of the nearly 40-km canal courses through the city. The civic body aims at cleaning up both sides of the canal and even create spaces for food parks. From a canal that carries a lot of sewage to the Singanallur Tank, the Corporation hopes to turn it into one that will have only rainwater flowing in it.
A scheme to provide underground drainage for 80 per cent of the 105 sq.km. city is expected to end the discharge of sewage into the canal.Besides the food parks, the Corporation also plans a 10-km flyover over the canal. This may help decongest some of the feeder roads that linked Avanashi Road with Tiruchi Road.The civic body has a project to provide houses for slum dwellers under the mission. “We will re-locate in tenements people who have encroached water bodies. The process of eviction and re-settlement will be smooth if the water bodies are handed over to us,” he said.
The Corporation had already engaged Action for Food Production, a non-Governmental organisation, to carry out a study of the condition of the Valankulam, Singanallur Tank, Muthannankulam, Krishnampathy Tank, Narasampathy Tank, Selvapathy Tank, Selvachinthamani Tank and the Big Tank at Ukkadam. The civic body hopes that it can make improvements to the tanks based on a project report by the consultant.The Mayor said that since these had to be done under the Corporation’s project, it would be better if the civic body took control of the water bodies.
