Underground Drainage Scheme Of Coimbatore
Amid fears that the Rs.377-crore underground drainage scheme of the Coimbatore Corporation is not getting anywhere, Mayor R. Venkatachalam said on Thursday that it was on the right course and that there would be no further delay once the scrutiny committee of the Government clears the first of the six components or packages (see table). “We have already begun the groundwork on establishing a sewage treatment plant at Ukkadam,” the Mayor said, in reply to a question on whether any tangible progress had been made. Aware of the criticism that the Corporation had not been up to the task of implementing one of the biggest schemes yet for the city, the Mayor said every effort was being made to ensure that the scheme was implemented in three years since take-off. A section of the councillors that wanted the project, blamed the other for stalling efforts to put the scheme on stream.
Another criticism was that the scheme had become a victim of politically motivated unrelenting positions on the drainage usage fee to be collected from the people. When fortunes changed in the local body elections, parties shifted stands. Those who supported the project till then began to oppose it. The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), which opposed the user fee till the 2006 local body polls, managed to get the fee passed in the Council in March, this year. After convening 13 unsuccessful meetings to fix the fee when its member was the Mayor, the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam opposed it this time sitting in the Opposition.
Sources in the Corporation said political opposition to the scheme upset officials who had struggled to get the scheme approved by the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission directorate in New Delhi. The Central Government would give to the Corporation 50 per cent of the project cost as grant. The State Government would provide a 20 per cent grant. The Corporation would not get another chance wherein more than half the project cost would come as grants.
Mr. Venkatachalam sought to allay fears among various sections by contending that the project had crossed the stage where it could be held up by political opposition. But, he admitted that a lot of time had been consumed by cost escalation and the resultant need to get fresh approvals from sanctioning authorities. The higher rates quoted by contractors for the first package had been sent to the scrutiny committee for technical sanction. Once these were cleared, the Corporation would begin the process for laying pipelines.
Fresh tenders would be called soon for packages II and III. Work on the treatment plant at Nanjundapuram would begin once the plan was approved. As for the plant at Ondipudur (package VI), the Corporation was trying to assess whether 14 acres or only seven acres were needed. “Hereafter, we can pass resolutions relating to tenders for individual components at Urgent Meetings of the Council,” the Mayor said, pointing out that this would eliminate further delay. “No one is against the scheme, everyone in the city wants it,” he said.
