The Hindu 20.01.2010
Chittur water supply scheme yet to receive work order
Staff Reporter
| Project got KWA sanction in December |
It will serve rain shadow areas in Chittur
Collector promises early action on project
PALAKKAD: The delay in issuing work order for the Rs.4-crore ‘comprehensive water supply scheme for non-covered, partially covered habitations in Perumatty and Pattancherry panchayats’ here by the Kerala Water Authority has drawn protest from the people in Chittur.
Satyagraha held
A satyagraha by Vilayodi Venugopal, chairman of the Anti-Coca-Cola Agitation Committee, in front of the Collectorate demanding drinking water supply to Plachimada was called off on Tuesday on an assurance from the District Collector that the water supply scheme work would be taken up immediately.
Objective
The water supply scheme was drawn up to provide drinking water to rain shadow areas of the Chittur taluk like Plachimada, where water is supplied in tanker lorries spending crores of rupees every year during summer months.
The Chittur water supply scheme was given administrative sanction in 2003 by the government.
Cost overrun
But the delay in implementing the project had led to cost overrun, with the government twice sanctioning the excess amount.
The Kerala Water Authority Board gave sanction for the project last month by allowing a tender excess of 40 per cent. But the KWA’s Superintending Engineer here still had not issued the work order.
The amount for the project was sanctioned from the Central government’s Backward Regions Grant Fund (BRGF).
The project will reach drinking water to the rain shadow areas of Chittur like Plachimada, Erithiampathy, Vadakarapathy, Ozhalapathy and Kozhijampara.
The project will utilise water from the Kunnamkattupathy reservoir, thus sparing the groundwater sources like borewells. The groundwater table had already depleted to alarming levels in these areas.
The project aims at renovating or modifying the existing comprehensive water supply schemes.
The project can be completed in this financial year itself, said R. Jayachandran, Assistant Executive Engineer, KWA, Chittur.
He said that as an emergency measure, steps were being taken to supply water to Plachimada from an open well by installing a motor at a cost of Rs.3 lakh, which was sanctioned from Chittur MLA K. Achuthan’s local area development fund.
