The Hindu 19.06.2013
Coimbatore Corporation to grant water supply connections from July 1 onwards
In all probability, the Coimbatore Corporation will
start granting fresh drinking water supply connections from July 1. The
civic body made a decision to this effect at its Council meeting on
Tuesday.
The Corporation had frozen issue of new
connections about two months ago when the water level dipped in the
Siruvani Dam, forcing the Corporation to divert Pilloor water to
Siruvani-fed areas.
Mayor S.M. Velusamy said the
Corporation would start granting approvals for fresh connection but only
after the issue concerning plumbers was sorted out. At present the
Corporation had only 60 approved plumbers – an insufficient number to
meet the needs of the residents of 100 wards.
Mr.
Velusamy said that the senior officials of the Corporation along with
heads of zones and committees would meet within a week to discuss the
issue of shortage of approved plumbers to come up with a solution. And
only after they do so, would the civic body go ahead and start approving
fresh connections.
At last count, the Corporation had around 3,000 pending applications.
The
issue regarding de-freezing the issue of connections cropped up after
Ward 62 Councillor S. Balan made an appeal in this regard.
During
the course of a debate on the execution of underground drainage and
storm water drainage work, Mr. Velusamy asked Commissioner G. Latha to
prepare a list of storm water drain works that were under progress. The
list ought to contain the name of the work, the scope of work, the date
of start and the progress made thus far.
He also
asked the engineers in-charge of executing works under the Jawaharlal
Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission to first complete works that had
been taken up in the past and not go in for new works.
This
was after Ward 49 Councillor Meena Loganathan (DMK) and a few others
from the ruling AIADMK complained that the contractors were in the
practice of abandoning works midway to move to new works. This led to a
situation were residents found it difficult to drive on roads where
works had been taken up, sewage stagnated in the drains built and roads
turned slushy in the recent rains.
With regard to
borewells, the Council, following complaints from the Councillors
decided that wherever borewells were defunct, the civic body would go in
for new ones. It made the decision after the elected representatives
said that at many places the yield was very poor or nil. And at newly
dug wells, the Corporation officials were yet to get power connection or
install motors.
At the Council meeting, the
Councillors also decided to take up planting saplings in medians,
regulate graffiti on walls, especially those that belonged to government
institutions, appoint 424 conservancy works on contract basis, prevail
upon builders to construct rainwater harvesting structures, regulate
advertisements, hoardings, etc. within the city.
