The New Indian Express 21.07.2009
Rs 209-cr drainage project okayed
ERODE: The government has approved a Rs 209.23-crore underground drainage (UGD) project for Erode.According to official sources, Rs 71.14 crore will be given as loan to facilitate the long-pending project while Rs 62.77 crore will be obtained as grant from a German bank. The State government and the local planning authority will grant Rs 9.83 crore and Rs 3.60 crore respectively. The remaining Rs 61.89 crore will be borne by the local body, of which, the contribution from the citizens will be nearly ten per cent of the total cost, around Rs 21 crore.
Apart from the 45 wards in the civic body, Surampati, Periyasemur, Kasipalayam and Veerappanchathram municipalities and other areas which are going to be annexed with the corporation, would benefit from the scheme too.Under the scheme, toilet wastes would be collected from over 85,790 houses and other buildings by laying pipelines over a 581-km stretch.
The sewage would be pumped to six treatment plants, that will be established under the project. The treated water would be collected at Peelamedu and Kasipalayam Municipal area.
The scheme’s main aim is to check the discharge of urban sewage into the Cauvery river. The government has allotted the entire sum for the project, excluding Rs 61.89 crore. The corporation has invited global tenders for the work on July 24. The work would be carried out by segregating the town into four zones. The tender estimates would be sent to the government and then the work would commence with an aim to complete it within three years.
However, an independent councillor Radhamani Barathi recalled that the TN Water Supply and Drainage Board had already constructed two treatment plants at a cost of over Rs 7 crore in two parts of the town to treat the sewage, flowing in Pitchaikaranpallam and Perumpallam Odais (stream).
The scheme was initiated with the help of Central aid.
But, due to some technical defects, Erode Corporation refused to take over the project, so its 45- acre site in which the open treatment plant exists, has remained idle for the past many years.
