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Tamil Nadu News Papers

Sinking sewer lines of Chennai

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The New Indian Express 13.07.2009

Sinking sewer lines of Chennai

CHENNAI: Imagine a house constructed a few years ago is suddenly reduced to rubble. It could be because of natural calamities like an earthquake or man-made errors like poor input materials, design flaw, lousy engineering… Okay, you get the picture.

Something similar is happening to the city’s sewerage system. The sewer lines built by the British over 80 years ago and those by the Chennai Corporation half a century ago are rock solid but sections of those constructed under the Chennai City River Water Conservation Project (CCRCP) between 2001 and 2006 are sinking.

The CCRCP lines run parallel to those of the British and the Chennai Corporation. But the older ones have put the new kid on the block to shame.

Sample this: a CCRCP manhole on St Mary’s Road in Alwarpet has caved in – not by a few centimeters but at least 10 feet. That is about the length of a Nano car. The entire structure, including the lid, sank a few months ago, leaving a huge gaping hole on the road. Peep into the hole and you will find the manhole cover sitting a few feet below the sludge. Not a pretty sight; pretty alarming, indeed.

The Alwarpet incident is not isolated. A back-of-the-envelope calculation suggests that at least 125 CCRCP manholes have collapsed since 2006. Of them, about 100 have been repaired but you can’t be sure that the problems there have been fully addressed. For, there are manholes that have caved in multiple times. Also, you fix a problem at one place and it erupts at another point. Sounds familiar, did you say? Isn’t it typical of how the government works in India? But come on, it’s public money that is involved.

You have a right to seek accountability.

Troubled spots

Among the locations where the problem of sinking manholes or ruptured sewage pipes or both occurred in the past are Arulambal Street, C P Ramaswamy Road, Devanathan Street, Greenways Road, Jagadambal Street, Subedar Thottam and North Usman Road. In quite a few areas like R K Mutt Road in Mylapore and Anna Main Road in K K Nagar, the problem recurred multiple times. A manhole on R K Mutt Road in Mylapore opposite the BSNL office has repeatedly caved in leaving a huge crater on the surface, creating endless hassle for road users and residents alike. Even today you can see a rubble dump and fencing bang on the middle of the road, which indicates that the work is perhaps still not over.

Similarly, repair work has seldom ceased on Anna Main Road that connects Ashok Nagar with K K Nagar. Here, the road itself caved in many times.

Ditto Arulambal Street in T Nagar. Contractors are still at work on Anna Main Road to fix leaky sewage pipes. As regards the St Mary’s Road manhole, the contractors have been directed to change the design. Also, the new structure will come up only after fresh soil tests are conducted.

Long-term solutions

V Ravichandran, chairman of Citizens Guardians, a welfare forum, grumbles that authorities look for just temporary fixes rather than finding permanent solutions.

For example, at a place where a sewer pipe had developed a leak, an ingenious way was found to fix the problem. The area around the crack was covered with gunny bags and tied using a jute rope. Then the workers poured cement on the contraption to control the leak. If this is not a stopgap arrangement, what else is? Last year, Ravichandran filed a PIL in the Madras High Court on depolluting the city’s waterways. The case is pending before the court. “Unless the authorities come forward to get to the root of the problem, solving it is not going to be easy,” he says with a shrug.

Other social workers want the government to set up an experts’ committee to go into the problem. “This is essential as the network should be functional for at least 30 years,” they point out.

According to officials of the Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (CMWSSB), the executing authority under the CCRCP, the problem of leaky pipes and sinking manholes is being “exaggerated by a section of people” right from the beginning. “Problems in some areas in large projects are not uncommon. However, some people are keen to project it as a complete failure,” they claim.

Something seriously wrong

Experts in soil mechanics, structural engineering and water resources say something is seriously wrong with the way repairs are being handled.

The problem could be due to soil factors, faulty design, and sub-standard execution of work or anything else.

“But it should be possible to solve. In this e-age, when we have solutions for some of the toughest technological issues, if simple things like arresting water leakage and stopping manholes from caving in cannot be done, it can never be the fault of science or systems,” a top official of a reputed civil construction company said requesting anonymity.

Contractors’ liability

Sources in the CMWSSB point out that the contractors’ liability under the agreement would end by mid-2010. After that, any repair work would be the responsibility of the Board. Does the CMWSSB have enough funds and manpower to execute the repair work at such trouble.

 

Last Updated on Monday, 13 July 2009 04:14
 

Sewage on GST Road in Pallavaram, a stagnating problem

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The Times of India 13.07.2009

 

Sewage on GST Road in Pallavaram, a stagnating problem

 
More than a month after the State Human Rights Commission took suo motu cognisance of the stagnation of sewage and effluents on GrandSouthern Trunk (GST) Road in Pallavaram, the problem remains, posing a grave risk to local residents and motorists alike.

On May 25, the full bench of the Commission headed by its chairperson, Justice A S Venkatachalmoorthy, had asked the managing director of the Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board, which currently executes the underground drainage work of Pallavaram municipality, and others, including the managing director of Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) and the Kancheepuram collector, to enquire into the matter and send a report to the commission within four weeks. Since then, apart from using sand to to arrest the overflow of sewage on to the road unsuccessfully little effort has been taken to tackle the problem.

The consequences of this delay are being borne by residents, shop-keepers and motorists daily wading through the stagnated sewage. With nearly half of the road in the area dug up to lay underground electric cables and dump accumulated sand from the pits, pedestrians have been forced to walk on the centre of the road.

GST Road, which is also a national highway (NH 45), is an extremely busy road that is used by hundreds of state-run buses and other heavy vehicles. "A few minor accidents and traffic congestions have became routine at this particular point every day. It has become really difficult to continue our business in such an environment," said K Sentil kumar, a shopkeeper.

"Some of us have been losing casual customers who avoid our shops becaus of stagnated sewage in front of our shops. The situation has worsened in the last 15 days. The engineers first dug a long channel for laying underground cables and then abandoned it saying the plan was wrong. Now, they are digging at a spot adjacent to the earlier one. The delay in the completion of the work, compounded by bad planning, is affecting our daily livelihood," said another shopkeeper.

Residents are not against development works. Rather, they are against the inordinate delay in completing them. Besides, the ongoing work on the Road Over Bridge (ROB) by the State Highways Department has resulted in a stretch of nearly 500 metres becoming slushy and a proving risky for the motorists. "Many state agencies such Chennai Metrowater, Highways Department and the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board are engaged in their respective projects along this stretch resulting in traffic congestion at this spot. The local body Pallavaram municipality which is incharge of maintaining the stretch remains a mere spectator. The municipality should clean up the drainage channel so that the sewage does not overflow on to the road. It should ensure a stench-free environment,"said S Gopalan, a resident.

 

 

State government sanctions Rs. 5 crore for drought relief

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The Hindu 13.07.2009

State government sanctions Rs. 5 crore for drought relief

Special Correspondent
To enable the various local bodies to tide over the drinking water scarcity

“Rainfall received this year was 32% less than the normal rainfall till this part of the year”

Officials have been asked to cut the drinking water supply to bulk consumers


VELLORE: The Tamil Nadu government has sanctioned a sum of Rs. five crore as the first instalment of drought relief to Vellore district, out of the Rs. 14 crore sought by the district administration, to enable the various local bodies to undertake immediate measures to tide over the drinking water scarcity in the light of the deficiency in rainfall and the consequent drying up of the drinking water sources in the Palar river, according to C. Rajendran, Collector of Vellore. Of this amount, Rs. three crore has been allotted to the panchayat unions, Rs.95 lakh to the municipalities, Rs.75 lakh to the town panchayats and Rs.30 lakh to the Vellore Corporation, he said.

Talking to newspersons after holding a meeting with the Block Development Officers (BDOs) of 20 panchayat unions, Commissioner of the Vellore Corporation, Commissioners of 13 municipalities and executive officers of 22 town panchayats in the district at the Collectorate here on Sunday, Mr. Rajendran said that the rainfall received by Vellore district this year was 32% less than the normal rainfall till this part of the year. Consequent to the government sanctioning an immediate interim drought relief amount of Rs. five crore, he conducted the meeting in order to identify the priority areas in the various local bodies requiring immediate attention in drought relief so that the grant could be disbursed to them based on their proposals. Among the 20 panchayat unions in Vellore district, Gudiyatham, K.V. Kuppam, Natrampalli, Kandhili, Tirupattur, Nemili and Jolarpet panchayat unions and parts of Alangayam panchayat union were badly affected by the drought. Of the 22 town panchayats, the town panchayats of Katpadi, Gandhinagar, Kazhinjur, Allapuram and Thorappadi were badly affected, while among the 13 municipalities in the district, the Tharapadavedu Third Grade Municipality was badly affected.

The Collector said that the BDOs, executive officers and commissioners of the affected panchayat unions, town panchayats and municipalities have been asked to identify the priority water scarcity areas and submit proposals for drought relief measures based on the immediate needs. They have also been asked to take steps on a war-footing, to execute the various works in order to overcome the drinking water problem and alleviate the sufferings of the people. He said that the Deputy Chief Minister M.K. Stalin had announced in the Assembly that if necessary, more funds would be sanctioned for drought relief to Vellore district. The officials have been asked to cut the drinking water supply to bulk consumers such as marriage halls, hotels and lodges, and divert the supply to the residential areas in all local bodies facing acute drinking water scarcity. They have also been asked to seize motors and disconnect the water connection of all consumers who were found to be resorting to the practice of illegal tapping of water using motors.

Mr. Rajendran said that the Sathuvachari Third Grade Municipality, which was having surplus supply, has agreed to supply 22 lakh litres per day (LLD) to the Vellore Corporation. The latter has agreed to supply 10 LLD to the Allapuram town panchayat, which in turn has agreed to supply three LLD to the Thorappadi town panchayat. The work on the sinking of additional wells under the Allapuram-Thorappadi Integrated Drinking Water Supply Scheme in the Palar River would be over in another one month and the supply to these town panchayats increased. Thanks to the gesture of Sathuvachari Municipality, Vellore Corporation and Allapuram town panchayat, it would be possible to increase the frequency of water supply in Thorappadi town panchayat from once in 25 days to once in 10 days, he said.

Earlier participating in the meeting, the Collector asked the Commissioner of Vellore Corporation P. Kubendran to reduce the duration of water supply from two hours to one hour so that the frequency of water supply could be increased from once a week or 10 days to once in four days. Similar instructions were also given to the authorities of the municipalities and town panchayats.

 

 


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