Urban News

The Hindu 28.07.2009

Rainfall declines at Siruvani Dam

K.V. Prasad

COIMBATORE: After raising the storage to the full reservoir level in the Siruvani Dam in a record 17 days, the South West Monsoon seems to have been done with it. There has been a steady decline in rainfall from third week of this month, almost in line with the forecast that the monsoon is moving northward.

But, if the monsoon is indeed moving away, it is doing so only after providing the second highest rainfall in July in nine years (including this year).

After providing very scanty rain in May (43 mm) and improving in June (349 mm), the monsoon turned vigorous and provided 1371 mm in July (till 24th). The previous maximum was 1472 mm in July 2005. This was the highest in May-August from 2001 to 2008 (see table).

The highest rainfall on a day this year - 229 mm - was recorded on July 16. On other days in the crucial 17-day period, the rainfall ranged from 60 mm to 190 mm.

But, once water began to overflow from the dam on July 18, the intensity of the rain declined. It was 102 mm that day. The decline began the next day: July 19 (34 mm), July 20 (32 mm), July 21 (11 mm), July 22 (25), July 23 (10 mm) and July 24 (8 mm).

Tamil Nadu Water Supply and Drainage Board officials said on Monday that there was no rain at Siruvani catchment over the last couple of days. While the overflow is an eagerly – sometimes desperately – awaited annual event, it does not really indicate that the dam is filled to its 650 million cubic feet capacity.

Of the total dam spread area of 22.7 sq.km., there is silt in many portions. Coimbatore Corporation sources say there is more than 10 ft of silt and this reduces the storage capacity. Though the actual level is 67 ft, water can be drawn only up to 49 ft. The rest is dead storage. The sources say that silt removal is a massive task and it needs the concurrence of the Kerala Government, since the dam is located on its territory.

The Hindu 28.07.2009

More training in new system sought Realty check

Aloysius Xavier Lopez

CHENNAI: With the Chennai Corporation planning to reduce the frequency at which it conducts training classes on the new online building approval system, licensed surveyors and architects want an extension of the training programme with more trainers.

“There is only one trainer for the new online building approval system. Even though the trainer is well-versed, we were unable to get our doubts cleared as the number of trainees is large,” said K. Suresh Kumar, a licensed surveyor. Mr. Kumar learnt the new system after trying for three months and resubmitting the plan for many times because of the minor errors he had committed. This has not gone down well with his clients.

The training programme, conducted by the Corporation for licensed surveyors and architects on Wednesdays and Fridays at 3 p.m., would be stopped from this week. “The training will be conducted once in 15 days as a majority of the licensed surveyors have been imparted training free of cost,” said Rajesh Lakhoni, Chennai Corporation Commissioner.

Palanivel Raja, another licensed surveyor, said builders and individuals constructing houses who engage their services were not able to understand the metric system as they continue to use imperial measurement units such as feet and inches.

But the online building approval system only uses the metric system. This has been one of the reasons for the problems, said a licensed surveyor. The licensed surveyors have decided to take the problems faced by them in each case to the knowledge of the software engineers involved in the development of the new online building approval system.

The construction workers are also not aware of the metric system and it becomes a problem on the construction site. So architects and licensed surveyors are planning to request the Corporation for updates in the new system based on feet and inches.

As a number of licensed surveyors and builders were unable to correctly use the new online building approval system of the Corporation introduced in Zone 10, the civic body started to impart training on how to handle the new facility.

“The system will cover all areas of the city in three months,” said Mr. Lakhoni.

As the building approval for other zones could be obtained through the old system in two weeks, the licensed surveyors and architects without proper training are unable to meet the expectations of the clients in Zone 10 which covers areas such as Adyar and Thiruvanmiyur. “A licensed surveyor who is inexperienced in the new system takes around six weeks to get an approval despite the online system being capable of verifying the plan in a few minutes if they are well trained,” said K.G. Janakiraman, Managing Director of Jayasaraswathy Constructions.

The Corporation’s initiative will be of great help after the licensed surveyors and architects overcome the initial glitches in learning the online system, he added.

The Corporation has planned to train all its engineers in the system. “We will send 10 engineers to Poona for training shortly,” said Mr. Lakhoni.

Once everything is in place, the online system is expected to reduce the time taken for getting building plan approvals significantly for builders and individuals.