Efforts To Speed Up Pillor Phase-II
Unless the Phase II drinking water scheme is implemented, the city will not be able to reap the full benefits that the Pilloor Dam offers. The sight of 12,000 cusecs overflowing from the Pilloor Dam is at once heartening and disheartening for the Coimbatore Corporation. The civic body is happy that the dam is full, but upset that it is not able to tap the surplus for providing more drinking water in the city. Mayor R. Venkatachalam admits that unless the Corporation implements the Rs.113-crore Pilloor Phase II drinking water scheme, any amount of surplus in the dam is not going to bring huge benefits. “When we draw 125 million litres a day (mld) from the dam, with 65 million litres for the city, the surplus will be helpful only to the extent of keeping the dam full. Had the Phase II scheme been implemented, the benefits may have been two-fold now,” he says. “The present scheme has the capacity to supply only 125 mld. That is why we cannot tap the surplus,” the Mayor explains. The Phase II scheme, to be implemented with Central Government grant under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission, holds the key to the city’s development, the Mayor points out.
“The Corporation pins hopes on this scheme to provide 24-hour water supply across the city,” he says. The mission offers the grant on the condition that water supply should be round the clock. With the water from Pilloor Phase I and Phase II schemes, the city and the local bodies beyond its eastern and northern borders will have their entire drinking water requirement met. The Mayor indicates that the Corporation is unhappy the scheme is yet to take off despite having been mooted 10 years ago. He is also aware of the resentment over the delay even after the Chief Minister laid the foundation for the scheme in February 2007. But, the civic body is now keen that the project takes off in three months, he asserts.
Mr. Venkatachalam attributes the delay to fresh tenders being ordered by a scrutiny committee of the State Government. The project is to be implemented as six packages. And, the Corporation has been asked to go in for re-tender for four of them as the rates quoted had been found to be high. Fresh tenders will be invited early next month and the entire scheme will be speeded up, the Mayor says.
