Urban News

Source : The Hindu Date : 27.06.2009

Delimitation of local bodies under consideration: Stalin

Special Correspondent

CHENNAI: A proposal on delimitation of local bodies, rural and urban, is under consideration of the government, Deputy Chief Minister M.K. Stalin told the Assembly on Friday.

Initiating a debate on the demands for grants to Municipal Administration, Water Supply, Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Departments, Mr. Stalin said Collectors had conducted public hearings pertaining to requests from various local bodies on upgrading, downgrading, bifurcating and amalgamating them. It had been clarified that the term of office of the present office-bearers would not, in anyway, be affected.

Noting that 172 panchayat unions now came under two or more Assembly constituencies, the Deputy Chief Minister said the government had taken up the reorganisation of panchayat union boundaries to ensure that an Assembly constituency comprised only full panchayat unions.

On implementation of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS), he said the average percentage of registration of beneficiaries in districts covered under the phase I and II (10 districts) had crossed 70; it was 45 per cent in 20 other districts covered under phase III. A sum of Rs.1,885 crore was spent on generating 2,400 lakh mandays of employment up to May 31.

Under Mahilar Thittam, a programme implemented in partnership with non-government organisations and community-based organisations affiliated to the Tamil Nadu Corporation for Development of Women, credit linkage to self-help groups touched Rs.2,174.57 crore during 2008-2009 due to positive intervention of the government. In the coming years, the focus of Mahilar Thittam would be on increasing credit linkage to SHGs. A target of Rs.2,400 crore had been set for 2009-2010.

A detailed action plan had been drawn up to restructure, in three years, all panchayat-level federations (PLF), a common platform for SHGs to share their experiences. This year, 1,260 PLFs would be restructured.

The implementation of the Rs.717-crore World Bank-aided Vazhndhu Kattuvom project, aimed at empowering the poorest of the poor, had earned appreciation of the funding agency. A proposal, seeking Rs.950 crore, had been mooted by the government to expand the reach of the project, Mr. Stalin added.

Source : The Hindu Date : 24.06.2009

Ramanathapuram ‘ooranies’ in a state of disuse for long

C. Jaishankar

— Photo: L. Balachandar.

GLORY GONE: Sewage water in Kidavettu ‘oorani.’

RAMANATHAPURAM: The ‘ooranies’ of Ramanathapuram town, which are known as traditional drinking water bodies, are in a state of disuse for years, owing to human neglect and silting. Many of them have become open gutters, causing concern among the people and environmentalists.

Though there were no proper records to ascertain when the ‘ooranies’ in Ramanathapuram town were created, many of the octogenarians say that they saw the ‘ooranies’ even from their childhood.

It indicates that many of them were established during the period of Sethupathy Kingdom for which Ramanathapuram was the headquarters for nearly three centuries.

According to the official records, there were 22 big tanks in Ramanathapuram town alone. Since it encountered drinking water crisis for several decades, it was believed that tanks were created in all corners of the town basically to recharge the groundwater level and thereby supplying it to the residents.

As per the statistics of the municipality, 18 tanks were totally polluted, as storage of sewage water let in from nearby residential colonies, business houses and hotels for so long. Other ‘ooranies,’ including Chidambaram, Semmankundu and Kidavettu have also become the point of open gutters.

Most of them have become permanent sewage storage areas.

“The town may lack in proper planning in several aspects. But it was the best example in terms of existence of the ‘ooranies’ in and around three km radius that ultimately took care of the entire drinking water needs. Unfortunately, it has become a bad example of encroachments and opens gutters,” says M.A. Sundarrajan, president, Ramanathapuram District Consumer Protection Council.

Though there was a proposal about five years ago to revive all tanks in the town, it did not cross the planning stage. Environmentalists and public feel that it was a high time to rejuvenate all tanks considering the implementation of underground drainage scheme (UGD).

Mr. Sundarrajan added that once the UGD was over there was less chance for the people to discharge waste water into the ‘ooranies.’ Hence, the Municipal Administration should draw a plan of action to desilt and rehabilitate all tanks to bring back the past glory.