The Times of India 01.09.2009
Wait for completion of drainage project continues
CHENNAI: In 1999, Sathyanathan of Vijayalakshmipuram in Ambattur remitted Rs 7,500 to the municipality towards a underground drainage connection. He is still waiting. So are hundreds of others.
The scheme, for which the Ambattur municipality laid the foundation stone in a bid to provide drainage facility in 19 of its 52 wards in March 2001 during the previous DMK regime, is now, according to sources, one of the longest-delayed projects of the present government.
The civic body has collected Rs 8.14 crore Rs 7,500 each from over 11,500 households so far but has not even completed 50% of the work.
While many resident welfare associations in Ambattur staged demonstrations and road-rokos, several residents chose to file applications under the Right To Information (RTI) Act seeking to know when the project will be completed. All to no avail. The Government Taxes and Bills Payers' Association took up the issue with the Tamil Nadu State Information Commission as the municipality's reply to its RTI application was not satisfactory.
"We want the personal intervention of chief minister M Karunanidhi, to ensure the completion of the project without further delay and to make the municipality pay interest for the deposits it collected,'' said Muthukumar, a resident.
In its reply to an RTI application filed by this reporter, the municipality said the contract was originally awarded to Nagarjuna Constructions and that the work began only in November 2004. The contract was ended in May 2007 as the contractor quoted 120% above the estimate for the balance works and the project was given to the Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (CMWSSB). Stating that works worth Rs 15.30 crore had been completed so far, the municipality said the delay was due to the monsoon, elections, change of location of pumping and lifing stations, public objection in some areas and change of alignment of the Chennai bypass.
Meanwhile, the municipality took up another drainage project at an estimated cost of Rs 155 crore, to be implemented in 24 wards under the Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) scheme.
