Urban News

The Hindu 02.01.2010

Govt. clears Corporation proposal to rejuvenate tanks in city

Special Correspondent

— File Photo: S. Siva Saravanan

SET FOR IMPROVEMENT: Valankulam is one of the eight tanks in the city that the Corporation will clean up under a Rs.125-crore project.

COIMBATORE: The State Government has cleared the Coimbatore Corporation’s proposal to take custody of eight tanks in the city for their rejuvenation at Rs. 125 crore under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission.

The water bodies are Big Tank at Ukkadam, Valankulam Tank, Singanallur Tank, Muthanankulam Tank, Krishnampathy Tank, Narasampathy Tank, Selvampathy Tank and Selvachinthamani Tank.

An order issued last month ends a tug-of-war between the Corporation and the Public Works Department over the custody of the tanks. The order authorised the Corporation to carry out the rejuvenation process such as de-silting and strengthening of bunds.

According to the civic body, the PWD had suggested earlier that the Corporation could hand over the funds to it to carry out the works.

The order, however, gave the Corporation sanction for only one-time custody of the tanks.

The custody period would end when the rejuvenation was completed. The tanks would once again be taken control of by the PWD – the custodian of all water bodies in the State.

Meeting

Welcoming the order, Mayor R. Venkatachalam said on Friday that first it would be recorded in the Council, possibly at an urgent meeting to discuss key schemes.

“We will then have a meeting with the officials of the PWD on how to set about the task of rejuvenation the tanks. We have to draw up a list of these in order of priority,” he said.

The Corporation planned to approach the Central Lake Development Authority for guidance on cleaning and maintaining the tanks.

Such a guidance would be necessary as the Corporation wanted to beautify the tank area and create parks, playgrounds and lay walkers’ tracks. Another area of focus was preventing pollution of the tanks.

“The discharge of sewage will stop when the entire city has underground drainage. A scheme for this is being implemented,” the Mayor said.

The Corporation would also look into the need for linking the tanks with canals so that surplus water in one flowed to another.

“The aim is to enable all the tanks to hold water to its capacity,” he said.

After the rejuvenation process was completed, the Corporation would maintain the parks and walkers’ track, lights and other facilities.

The release of water and the maintenance of the water-holding areas of the tanks would be done by the PWD, Mr. Venkatachalam said.

Business Standard 31.12.2009

The Tamil Nadu government on Wednesday ordered merger of several local bodies with the Chennai Corporation, expanding its area from the present 174 sqkm to 426 sqkm.

The move to expand Chennai and create a larger urban agglomeration is aimed at providing better infrastructure and amenities for the suburbs. The Chennai Corporation is the oldest civic body in the country.

The municipalities, which are to be merged with the corporation, include Ambattur, Alandur, Maduravoyal, Manali and Tiruvottiyur. Eight town panchayats, including Puzhal, Porur, Meenambakkam, Perungudi and Sholinganallur, and 25 village panchayats in Tiruvallur and Kancheepuram districts will thus be brought under the present Chennai Corporation limits, raising the city’s population to 5.6 million from the present 4.3 million, according to the state government.

While a village panchayat — Idayanchavadi in Minjur limit -- would be the city corporation’s entry point from the northern side, Uthandi village panchayat on East Coast Road would be its boundary on the southern side.

The GO said the elected representatives of the local bodies would continue in their posts until 2011 when the next elections would be held. The decision on formation of two new corporations — Chennai-Avadi and Chennai-Tambaram — would be taken later.

The Chennai Corporation commissioner has been given the power to delineate the wards, zones and reclassify existing wards. If need be, he can designate an officer on special duty. A report pertaining to the delineation and reclassification must be submitted to the government within six months.

The GO added that this expansion of the city limit is to arrive at comprehensive planning for the development of infrastructure and to optimise all resources, including financial, which differs in each local body.