The Hindu 12.06.2013
Corpn. to remove weeds from tanks
Ukkadam Big Tank (Periyakulam) and Valankulam might soon
be free of weeds if the Coimbatore Corporation goes ahead and
implements its plan to de-weed the tanks.
Around a
year ago, following instructions from Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, the
civic body removed weeds from the tanks for a little more than Rs. 13
lakh.
This was after the Public Works Department
fixed a rate for the exercise. The Corporation removed the weeds, used
its vehicles to transport the weeds and destroyed the same.
This time, though, the Corporation has planned to talk to the contractor who is doing a similar work for the Kerala Government.
To
study the work, Deputy Commissioner S. Sivarasu, City Engineer
in-charge K. Sugumar and PWD Assistant Executive Engineer Ilango were in
Alappuzha a couple of days ago to study how the Kerala Government went
about removing the weeds and the cost involved.
They
said that the Government through its fisheries and tourism departments
was engaged in removing weeds through a contractor, who used imported
machines.
It was an improvised boat with a cutter on one side and a platform like structure on the other to collect the cut weeds.
The boat had to either dump the cut weed by itself or pass it on to other boats for them to do the transportation job.
The boat cleared about two acres weed in a day.
They said that they had asked for a detailed working from the contractor.
The
officials further said that the Corporation should go in for periodical
de-weeding of the tanks and it should not be a one-off affair because
the weeds would grow soon after the de-weeding exercise.
As for the cut weeds, the Corporation could go in for a bio-methanisation plant.
They
said that unlike Kerala, the Corporation need not carry out the
de-weeding operation round-the-year. It could instead choose to de-weed
the tanks when the tanks were full of water. This would help the civic
body reduce expenditure.
The officials said that the Corporation proposed to spend Rs. 20 lakh for the cleaning exercise.