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A road to remember a municipal commissioner during British rule

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The Hindu        18.05.2017  

A road to remember a municipal commissioner during British rule

The road at Hasthampatti that was named after John Charles Pritchard. The name has been spelt wrongly on the signage.E. Lakshmi NarayananE_Lakshmi Narayanan;E_Lakshmi Narayanan  

The 112th memorial day of John Charles Pritchard (1849 to 1905), who died while serving as Salem municipal commissioner, was observed here on May 12.

Popularly known as J.C. Pritchard, Barrister at Law, the road connecting Sarada College Road and Cherry Road was named after him as ‘Pitchards Road’. The name, however, has been spelt wrongly on the signage as “Pitchard”.

During the British rule, he served as the municipal commissioner and took serious efforts to prevent the outbreak of malaria, cholera, which were deadly diseases during the 19th Century. He was instrumental in opening health clinics in the city and ensured that there was no outbreak of the diseases. A famous lawyer, who actively involved in social services, he died of illness on May 12, 1905. As a mark of tribute to him, the municipality named the road after him.

On August 11, 2011, when members of Salem Historical Society cleaned the bushes in the British era Christian cemetery in Peramanur in the city, they found the grave of Pritchard. The concrete-structured grave was found in a dilapidated condition. Members of Salem Historical Society urged the district administration to take steps to preserve it as a monument.

 

Come September, water recycling plant will be ready at Tirunallar

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The Hindu          11.05.2017 

Come September, water recycling plant will be ready at Tirunallar


The water recycling plant at Nalan Kulam in TirunallarPhoto: B.Velankanni Raj  

About 25 lakh litres of water is required to re-fill the tank

The water re-cycling plant at ‘Nalan Kulam’ at Sri Dharbaranyeswarar Temple in Tirunallar, popularly known as Sri Saneeswarar temple, near here, will be completed by September.

The work had stalled due to delay in sanctioning of funds.

The tank needs periodical re-filling of fresh water, as a large number of devotees take a holy dip in it.

Sacred dip

The volume of devotees visiting the temple and taking a dip in the tank is large during the weekend, as Saturday is considered auspicious for devotees to offer their prayers to Lord Sri Saneeswarar.

The tank is cleared of the water periodically. So are the clothes abandoned by devotees.

The need for a water recycling plant has been felt largely due to the large volume of water pumped into the tank everytime. “The groundwater table, though safe now, will be disturbed in course of time. Hence, the implementation of the project was taken up under the Tirunallar Temple Town Development Project at an estimated Rs. 2.14 crore. Though work was delayed, there would be no hike in the estimates, an official source told The Hindu on Wednesday.

Official sources say about 25 lakh litres of water are required to re-fill the tank, which is about 1.5 acres in size. The treatment plant can handle 12 lakh litres, according to a technical report.

Procedure

Adoption of filter process — aeration filter and sand filter — is the first procedure for re-cycling. The used water from the tank is fed into a series of four tanks.

While three tanks are of uniform in size — 5.5 metre in diameter and height of six meter in height — the collection tank is larger with 16 metre in diameter and height of four metre.

Work on installation of the tanks have been completed, while other technical issues would be taken care of by September.

The operation of the re-cycling plant will be carefully monitored during initial three to four months, so that modifications, if necessary, can be introduced.

 

Civic chief to order probe into water connection irregularities

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The Hindu         01.12.2014 

Civic chief to order probe into water connection irregularities

Certain councillors of the Villupuram Municipality on Sunday alleged irregularities in providing water connections to the households in the town.

Responding to the allegation, Municipal Chairman Bhaskaran said that he would soon constitute an official team to look into the issue and based on the outcome of the enquiry, he would take appropriate action.

The councillors also stated that the electric crematorium in the town was now under the control of the social service organisation (Rotary Club) which was charging Rs 500 extra, over and above the charges prescribed by the council.

Lapses pointed out

The chairman said that the officials would look into the issue and take appropriate remedial measure. The councillors also pinpointed many lapses on the part of the local body such as inadequate and improper drainage facilities and scant regard for putting up rain water harvesting system.

They pointed out that the Thiru Vi.Ka Road was bursting at the seams owing to burgeoning vehicular population. This stretch was posing immense problem to the commuters and therefore the councillors sought urgent action to decongest the road and ease the traffic flow.

The councillors also noted that the ground water level had depleted to such a low that the borewells had gone dry and the prospects of divining water were almost nil. Only through rejuvenating the aquifer, the trend could be reversed, they said.

The Chairman said that solutions would be found to all these civic problems.

Last Updated on Monday, 01 December 2014 12:04
 
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