Deccan Chronicle       29.06.2010

IVRCL bags water project work order

June 28: Even as the Kannada organisations in neighbouring Karnataka continue their opposition to the Hogenakkal water supply project, the state government is going ahead to complete the scheme on time to provide potable water to the fluorosis-hit Dharmapuri and Krishnagiri district.

The Tamil Nadu water supply and drainage (TW-AD) board, entrusted with the task of executing the work, has issued work ord-ers to Hyderabad-based IV-RCL to one more package (no II) to lay 83-km-long stainless steel leak-proof pipes from Madam to Uthangarai at a cost of Rs 315 crore. IVRCL authorities are expected to sign the contract on Tuesday.

IVRCL bagged the contract for package-I also, sources said. “We have as-ked them to organise men and material and laying of pipelines will begin by Au-gust,” a senior official said.

The ambitious scheme to provide drinking water to 30 lakh people at a cost of Rs 1,928 crore kick-started a year ago after an initial delay. Senior officials said tenders are at an advanced stage for the remaining th-ree packages and they wo-uld be awarded shortly. De-puty chief minister M.K. Stalin, who handles the municipal administration and water supply departme-nt, is likely to visit Hog-enakkal in a couple of days to review the ongoing work.

Though Cauvery flows through Dharmapuri and Krishnagiri, people are forced to depend on groundwater which has high fluoride content, causing dental and skeletal diseases.