Good Job:Mayor S.M. Velusamy, Deputy Mayor Leelavathi Unni (left) and
Corporation Commissioner T.K. Ponnusamy (right) displaying the Best
Corporation Award citation and the cheque in the city on Thursday. The
Mayor and the Commissioner received the award from the Chief Minister at
the Independence Day parade in Chennai on Wednesday.— PHOTO: S. SIVA
SARAVANAN

Coimbatore Corporation had, in the last 10 months, fared
extremely well in speeding up works. This was in sharp comparison to
the works done during the last five years of the previous regime. And
these works resulted in it bagging the prestigious award for the Best
Corporation, said Mayor S.M. Velusamy.

The award is instituted only this year and carries a citation and cash prize of Rs. 25 lakh.

Mr. Velusamy was talking to reporters explaining the criterions under which the Corporation was chosen for the award.

Mr.Velusamy,
and Commissioner T.K. Ponnusamy, said the civic body performed well in
16 categories which include provision of drinking water, laying of
drainage, roads, providing streetlights, taking up energy efficiency
measures, maintenance of public conveniences, initiating solid waste
management systems, setting up information centres, enforcing
computerisation, taking care of public health, providing for education
to children, setting up parks and for sound financial management of the
Corporation. Deputy Mayor Leelavathi Unni and Deputy Commissioner S.
Sivarasu were present at the briefing.

Mr.Velusamy
alleged that JNNURM schemes mooted during the previous AIADMK regime had
run into rough weather during the DMK regime which slowed down the pace
of implementation.

To eradicate the menace of
mosquitoes, the city required a pucca Underground Drainage Scheme and
during the period 2007 to 2011, works were completed only in respect of
63 km out of the 573 km. But in the last 10 months, the AIADMK-led
council had completed another 220 km works. With regard to 731 km length
of storm water drains, the previous regime had completed only 102 km
whereas the AIADMK-led council completed 385 km.

With
regard to Pilloor II scheme, Mr.Velusamy said the council was left with
works to be carried out for a year when it assumed office. Now, efforts
were on to put the scheme into operation by September this year.
Meanwhile, the civic body managed to source 30 mld of water every day
using the second scheme to tide over the water scarcity in the North and
East zones of the Corporation because of poor supply of Siruvani water.
Water supply now has been scheduled for once in four days as against
the 20- day cycle that prevailed earlier.

With regard
to restoration of roads after the UGD work, the previous regime
completed only 17 km at an outlay of Rs. 4.62 crore, while the present
regime had completed restoration roads to an extent of 261 km at Rs.
85.31 crore. The Corporation went the extra mile to install generators
to streamline supply of water from the Aliyar scheme for Kurichi and
Kuniamuthur areas and Vadavalli and Kavundampalayam under the Bhavani
scheme. This had resulted in these areas getting water once in four or
five days as against the earlier 15 to 18 days.

Under
the housing scheme for the poor, the Corporation had handed over Rs.
1.65 lakh each to 6,000 beneficiaries. Tax realisation was at 88 per
cent, the highest in the State.

Land acquisition was
under process for the Ondipudur Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) and a
clearance was awaited from the Pollution Control Board for the
Nanjundapuram Road STP. With regard to the third package in the UGD
scheme for 220 km at Rs. 179 crore, Mr.Ponnusamy said the previous
contractor was blacklisted owing to contractual failure and two bids had
been received now.

Towards energy efficiency and
better lighting, the civic body was embarking on 100 per cent LED lights
in 40 wards (i.e., added areas of the Corporation).

As
many as 21,000 lights would be replaced over the next five years.
Replacing of lights in the core city would commence in the subsequent
phase. A separate scheme was under formulation for solid waste
management in respect of the 200 tonnes of garbage generated by the
added areas of the Corporation.

As it was done in
Kavundampalayam, land filling method at Vellalore solid waste management
compost yard was nearing completion over 8.8 lakh cubic metre area at a
cost of Rs. 12.5 crore and this had made Coimbatore a pioneer making
local bodies in the country, Mr.Ponnusamy claimed.

All
these achievements in a short span of time and especially in sharp
comparison with the pace of works in the last five years had made
Coimbatore Corporation eligible for the award, Mr.Velusamy said.