The Hindu 28.12.2013
Uyyakondan cleaning campaign gets backing of officials, civic body
SLOW DEATH:Indiscriminate dumping of garbage and discharge of raw sewage
is destroying the Uyyakondan channel.— FILE PHOTO: R.M. RAJARATHINAM
The district administration and the Tiruchirapalli City
Corporation will join the efforts of private organisations to prevent
pollution of the Uyyakondan canal that runs across the city.
The canal takes its flow from the Cauvery near Pettavaithalai and runs across Tiruchi.
It
traverses about 69 km between Pettavaithalai and Vazhavanthankottai
tank, but has been subject to heavy urban pollution on a 16-km urban
stretch. The canal has an ayacut area of over 32,000 acres and feeds 36
tanks and is still a large number of people take bath in it.
Open
drains and sewage from households and commercial establishment flow
into the river at several places in the city. Thaneer, a voluntary group
which took up a campaign to revive the Mavadikulam in the city, has
recently taken up the task of clearing garbage from the canal banks
between the Thennur Uzhvar Sandhai and Azhvarthoppu.
Uyyakondan
Padukkappu Kuzhu (Uyyakondan Protection Committee), another voluntary
body comprising civic and residents welfare organisations, launched an
awareness campaign recently to sensitise people against polluting the
canal.
Taking cognizance of the initiatives, District
Collector Jayashree Muralidharan convened a meeting a few days ago with
officials of the corporation,
Public Works
Department, and other agencies to discuss the issue. Representatives of
the Uyyakondan Padukappu Kuzhu attended the meeting. The meeting
resolved to launch an awareness campaign to prevent pollution of the
canal, place garbage bins along its course, and build parapet walls
along minor bridges across the canal at Palakkarai, Eda Theru, and
Periyar Nagar to prevent dumping of garbage into it. It was decided that
the corporation would identify buildings along the canal which had not
been connected to underground drainage network and provide the
connections to the same.
The Collector would lead the campaign that is to be launched on December 31.
