The Hindu                           30.03.2013

Corporation drops micro tunnelling option to lay sewer lines around Srirangam temple

risky exercise:The special provision was incorporated as the network has
to run across narrow strips of land between rear side of houses and
ramparts of the temple— File PHOTO : R. M. RAJARATHINAM.

Owing to fears of possible damage to the historic structure.

The Tiruchi Corporation has shelved its plans to go in for micro
tunnelling to lay underground sewer lines around the ramparts of the Sri
Ranganathaswamy Temple in Srirangam, owing to fears of possible damage
to the historic structure.

The Corporation had previously planned
to lay the sewer lines, as part of an underground drainage scheme for
the omitted areas sanctioned by the government, using micro tunnelling
technology in immediate surroundings of the temple ramparts.

The
special provision was incorporated to provide the underground sewer line
in Chithra, Uthira Veedhis and Adayavalanjan in Srirangam as the
network has to run across narrow strips of land between the rear side of
houses and the ramparts of the temple.

However, after a technical
study by the Commissionerate of Municipal Administration and experts
from the National Institute of Technology it was felt that the vibration
that would be caused by micro tunnelling could possibly damage the
ramparts. It was felt that the move could be taken up only after a pilot
project.

But Corporation sources said that the cost of a pilot
project by itself could prove to be very expensive and hence it has been
decided not to go in for the technology.

Corporation Commissioner V.P.Thandapani told
The Hindu
on Friday that the sewer line for the four lanes would be laid
separately using conventional methods after the boulders that have
fallen off the ramparts were cleared by the HR&CE Department.

He
pointed out boulders from the ramparts had fallen off in many places in
an 8.8 km stretch and these have to be used again in the renovation of
the structure.

Already, the ramparts are already being repaired in
some stretches. The Corporation had prepared a separate estimate for
laying the sewer lines through normal procedure in a 2.2 km stretch
along the rampart, where the boulders have already been cleared.

The
HR&CE Department is also said to be drawing a separate proposal for
clearing the boulders and renovating the damaged portions of the
rampart. The sewer line would be laid after the boulders were removed.

The
State government has already accorded administrative sanction to the
extension of the underground drainage scheme for the omitted areas in
Srirangam under phase I of expansion of the sewer system in the city.
Under this phase, residential colonies spread over a radius of 10.53
square kilometres in Srirangam and Thiruvanaikovil areas would be
brought under the sewer network.

The Corporation has now called
for tenders leaving out the four lanes. The Corporation Council, at its
meeting on Thursday, approved a resolution finalising the tender for the
project with the exclusion of the four lanes. Work on the project is
set to begin in the next few months after the award of the contract.