The Hindu 02.05.2013
Namakkal civic body warns of disconnecting water supply
Bid to make people pay drainage connection charges.
In a bid to make people of Namakkal Town pay for connection charges — to connect sewage outlet of their buildings with the Under Ground Drainage (UGD) system — Namakkal Municipality has warned that it will disconnect drinking water supply to houses and commercial establishments that are yet to pay the charges.
The local body would also take necessary steps to ensure that the UGD connections are given.
“The Rs. 22.95 crore UGD project covering 7,000 houses and commercial establishments in 23 wards in the Town was completed in mid 2012 and trial run began in August and is going on for eight months. The project is yet to be commenced as more than half the establishments have not paid the connection charge,” Commissioner (in-charge) N. Kamalanathan told The Hindu .
He said that the deposit for UGD ranging between Rs. 3,000 to Rs. 3 lakh, based on the floor area of the establishment was collected from a total of 7,000 connections.
Participation
“Though this participation of the people is encouraging, only 2,900 have paid the connection charges,” the Commissioner noted.
“The total connection charge (including cost of application form, supervision charge and cost of materials) is Rs. 1,989 if the distance between the existing line and UGD is less than three metres, Rs. 2,593 for four to six metres, Rs. 3,177 for seven to nine metres, Rs. 3,761 for 10 to 12 metres and Rs. 4,355 for 13 to 15 metres. It is much less than what the owners had to pay as deposit,” Mr. Kamalanathan added.
The Commissioner said that special teams have been formed to enable speedy collection of connection charges, as only around Rs. 3.5 crore has been collected so far, against the target of Rs. 7 crore.
He added that the municipality is also taking strides to ensure connection for those who have paid the charges is given at the earliest.
Municipal sources said that the amount initially sanctioned for the project was Rs. 18.84 crore in October 2005 and the first phase of UGD (line laying works) worth Rs. 13.43 crore commenced in August 2006.
The project cost was revised to Rs. 22.95 crore in December 2009. The second phase of the project began that year with the construction of the 50 lakh litre Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) at Rs. 6.08 crore.
Tamil Nadu Water and Drainage (TWAD) Board staff at the STP said that the inflow of sewage for treatment has increased from around six to seven lakh litres a day to 14 lakhs litres over the last few days.
