The Tiruchi City Corporation (TCC) has floated tenders for the second phase of the underground drainage system.

The much-awaited project is aimed at extending the sewer lines to uncovered areas in some 25 wards in the city. The project estimated to cost Rs. 344 crore will be implemented under the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT). While the project will cover five wards fully, 20 others, which were omitted during the first phase of the project, will be partially covered.

Commissioner-cum-Special Officer, Tiruchi Corporation, N. Ravichandran toldThe Hinduthat tenders had been invited for the second phase and January 22 had been fixed as the the deadline for sale of tender documents and January 23 as the last date for submission of tenders. The applications would be opened on the same day.

Out of the estimated Rs. 344 crore, the Centre would contribute 50% of the project cost, the State 30% and the Tiruchi Corporation would bear the remaining 20%, he said.

According to sources, wards 28, 29, 30, 61 and 62 will be fully covered in the second phase of the UGD project and wards 7-9, 12-15, 21, 27, 31, 46, 52-54, 57-60 and 63-65 partially covered. Wards in Ariyamangalam, Kattur and Thiruverumbur are among those selected under the project.

As per the plan, sewer lines will be laid for a distance of 319 km and pumping mains for 22 km. It will enable the civic body to provide 43,147 individual connections.

A site at Keezha Kalkandarkottai has been identified for establishing the sewage treatment plant. It is expected to take at least three to four years to complete the second phase of the sewerage collection system.

A senior official of the Corporation said about 35 to 40% of Tiruchi had already been covered by the underground drainage project. Most parts of erstwhile Tiruchi Municipality and Srirangam Municipality had UGD infrastructure. The second phase would cover about 30% of the extended areas of the city. The remaining areas would be covered in the third phase of UGD project.

The Tiruchi City Corporation (TCC), which has set a target to improve its clean city ranking (Swachh Survekshan-2018) from the current sixth position, has released a logo for its clean city campaign.

The logo will be featured on all correspondence, pamphlets, posters and awareness material on the clean city initiatives. Besides the image of Mahatma Gandhi’s spectacle, which is the symbol of Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) of the Central government, an image of Rockfort temple, an iconic symbol of Tiruchi, and a person cleaning with a broom figure on the logo.

N. Ravichandran, Special Officer cum Commissioner, who released the logo, said it was aimed at creating awareness among the citizens of Tiruchi to cooperate with the civic administration in making the city the No. 1 cleanest city in the country. All letters, correspondence and awareness materials of the clean city campaign would bear the logo.

“We can achieve the No. 1 rank only with the active participation of citizens. I hope the clean city campaign will create a sense of eagerness among the citizens on improving Tiruchi’s national ranking,” Mr. Ravichandran told The Hindu .

He said the Corporation had appointed Mylswamy Annadurai, Director, ISRO Satellite Centre, Bengaluru, as its brand ambassador for the campaign. It would enable the Corporation to take forward the agenda of reaching out to the citizens on all aspects of the campaign.

Mr. Ravichandran said the Corporation had ordered 85 small load carriers at a cost of Rs. 4.5 crore for streetwise garbage collection. Each vehicle would cost Rs. 5.20 lakh. The vehicles were set to be delivered shortly, taking the number of light weight load carriers to 140 from 55. The new vehicles would gradually replace the hired load carriers.