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Corporation numbers street lights for better management

Tuesday, 21 August 2012 04:31 administrator
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The Hindu    21.08.2012

Corporation numbers street lights for better management

Karthik Madhavan

Faulty lights will be attended to within 48 hours

A newly numbered street light on Balasundaram Road in the city. —PHOTO: S. SIVA SARAVANAN.
A newly numbered street light on Balasundaram Road in the city. —PHOTO: S. SIVA SARAVANAN.

Responding to frequent complaints that faulty street lights are not being repaired at the pace they ought to be, and that there are too many lights that do not flow, the Coimbatore Corporation has undertaken corrective steps.

The Mayor, S.M. Velusamy, announced at the last Council meeting that the operation and maintenance contractor number all the lamp posts in the city for better street light management. In keeping with the direction, the contractor was on the verge of completing the process.

Commissioner T.K. Ponnusamy told The Hindu that the contractor was in the process of completing the numbering process, which was going on in the core city area comprising 60 wards. There are over 37,000 street lights.

In numbering the street lights, the contractor would mention the zone, the ward and then the lamp post number for all types of street lights, including the high masts. Once the process was over, registers would be prepared to be given to the Corporation officials. The contractor would also have a copy. The person appointed ward-wise for street light monitoring would undertake routine check every evening and report the number and location of faulty lights to both the Corporation and the contractor. The former would then ensure that the contractor attended to the lights within 48 hours, as mandated in the contract.

Mr. Ponnusamy said that the person monitoring street light would report the precise lamp post number for repairing the faulty light. This would make the job of the zonal coordinators and contractor easy.

The Corporation had named senior officials as zonal coordinators to oversee street light maintenance.

Earlier, the Corporation and the contractor had a convoluted process of identifying the faulty lights, which was based on energy consumption at meters at every location.

Mr. Ponnusamy also said that the Corporation had increased the fine amount for the contractor for the delay in repairing faulty lights.

As for the added areas, he said that the lights were still under the guarantee period as most of them were newly installed.

Last Updated on Tuesday, 21 August 2012 04:34
 

Rs.2 crore allocated to Dindigul district: Collector

Wednesday, 08 August 2012 06:32 administrator
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The Hindu  08.08.2012

Rs.2 crore allocated to Dindigul district: Collector

Staff Reporter

Under special self-sufficiency scheme this year

DISCUSSION:Collector N. Venkatachalam presiding over a special review meeting in Dindigul on Tuesday.— PHOTO: G. KARTHIKEYAN.
 
DISCUSSION:Collector N. Venkatachalam presiding over a special review meeting in Dindigul on Tuesday.— PHOTO: G. KARTHIKEYAN.

The State Government had allocated Rs.2 crores to the district for implementing various development works with public participation under special self-sufficiency scheme this year, according to Collector N. Venkatachalam.

He was presiding over a special meeting with town panchayat officials on the utilisation of MP and MLA constituency development funds at Collectorate near here on Tuesday.

The panchayat administration could take up projects like drinking water schemes, road works, streetlights and other basic amenities within town panchayat under this scheme.

The panchayat should make all efforts to replace tubelights and sodium vapour lights with CFL bulbs to cut EB bill. Replacement expenses could be taken up with this fund.

They could use also this fund to install machines for drinking water schemes.Moreover, road to burial ground, and laying rural road could also be executed with this fund.

He appealed to town panchayat officials to prepare development projects quickly and avail the funds.They should undertake the works immediately and execute them with high quality within the scheduled time, he advised. In the last financial year, the district administration had taken up 418 works at an estimated cost of Rs.13.94 crore and 150 works were completed.

Similarly, 248 works were taken up under MP constituency development fund at an estimated cost of Rs.15.37 crore of which 83 works were over.Under backward area grant scheme, 1,040 works had been taken up and 455 works were finished, he added.Town panchayat officials and other line department officials took part.

Last Updated on Wednesday, 08 August 2012 06:35
 

Pallikaranai wetland in makeover mode

Friday, 27 July 2012 08:26 administrator
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The Hindu      27.07.2012

Pallikaranai wetland in makeover mode

K. Manikandan

Eco-restoration of 100 acres on southern part of marshland under way

Much awaitedThe completion of the eco-restoration project will take five years and cost about Rs. 15 crore—Photo: A. Muralitharan
Much awaitedThe completion of the eco-restoration project will take five years and cost about Rs. 15 crore—Photo: A. Muralitharan

 

Eco-restoration of a portion of Pallikaranai marshland is currently under way. Once completed, it will increase the roosting area for birds, and also help in improving ground water table in nearby residential localities.

Work is under progress on about 100 acres of land near the southernmost point of the marshland. The area lies behind the nearly-400 acre ELCOT Special Economic Zone on Perumbakkam Main Road which connects Velachery Main Road at Medavakkam and Rajiv Gandhi Salai at Sholinganallur junction.

Forest department officials said, at present, mounds were being created by scooping out earth. The dug out parts had accumulated water due to the recent rains resulting in a profusion of fish and snails that in turn attracted birds.

The Pallikaranai wetland is one of the most important ecosystems in the metropolis. The marshland was originally spread over nothing less than 5,000 hectares and has now reduced to around 500 hectares due to indiscriminate construction and dumping of garbage.

An announcement in the policy note of the State government’s forest department last year set the ball rolling for the restoration project as well as the creation of a conservation authority.

The completion of the eco-restoration project will take five years and cost about Rs. 15 crore. However, it was not until early this year that preliminary work on the wetland began.

A water course spread over two hectares is being spruced up. Water channels that transport run-off during the monsoon from Perumbakkam and other areas to the Okkiyam Maduvu through the marshland are also being deepened and desilted.

Not only will this prevent flooding of localities on either sides of Perumbakkam Main Road, but also increase the level of water inside the 100-acre area, an official said.

A bund for a distance of more than 3,000 metres is being developed and when completed, nature lovers will be able to walk along the periphery.An observation centre from where visitors can watch the birds will come up inside the core area of Pallikaranai marshland.

Also in the pipeline is an interpretation centre where photographs of birds that visit the marshland will be displayed. This will encourage schools and colleges to conduct educational tours and also raise awareness among the public about the rich flora and fauna, the official said.

Sources said a few thousand saplings of Arjuna ( neer maththi ), Portia ( poovarasan ), bamboo ( moongil ) and rosewood ( sisu ) would be planted here.According to K.V.R.K. Thirunaran of The Nature Trust, nothing less than 127 varieties of birds have been sighted at Pallikaranai, significantly higher than the number at Vedanthangal.This went to prove the diversity and importance of the wetland, he said.

 
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