Chennai, July 29: City corporation has proposed to introduce purified drinking water facilities at 10 spots along the Marina beach in co-ordination with NGOs and Chennai Metro Water board. Corporation top brass and metro water officials along with representatives of NGOs will discuss the proposal at the Ripon Buildings on Thursday, mayor M. Subramanian told Deccan Chronicle.

With the corporation planning to introduce total ban on plastic products at Marina Beach from August 15 and the beach beautification project underway, the civic body is planning to introduce public friendly initiatives along the coast of Marina, the mayor said.

The representatives of Lions Club, Rotary International and Round Table and government officials will participate in the meeting and discuss the modalities in connection with constructing the drinking water plants. The NGOs will maintain the facility and each facility will cost about Rs 4 to 5 lakh and each will be set up for every 500 metres in the 4 kilometre stretch. The NGOs had already installed 19 water purifiers in the corporation school and the initiative is a hit among the school students. In fact, the children also carry the purified water to their homes, he said.

With the view to meet the demand, the civic body is planning to engage the NGOs in setting up water tanks to supply purified drinking water to beach-visitors, further the move is expected to reduce the usage of drinking water sachets in the Marina beach, where the plastic will be banned by mid August.

According to corporation sources, besides installing drinking water plants the civic body plans to rope in private firms and NGOs to maintain the parks and play fields. It may be noted that corporation had already completed the first phase of beach beautification in front of the state secretariat. On completion the total cost of the project is expected to be around Rs 40 crore.