The Hindu 01.04.2010
Councillors for steps to avert water shortage
Special Correspondent
| Corporation ‘fully geared up' to meet the city's requirements |
Photo: M. Moorthy 
Tumultuous:Mayor S. Sujatha chairing a meeting of the Corporation Council in Tiruchi on Wednesday as Corporation Commissioner T.T. Balsamy looks on. —
TIRUCHI: A section of the Corporation councillors have urged the civic authorities to take adequate precautionary steps to avert drinking water shortage during the ensuing summer.
Raising the issue at an urgent meeting of the Corporation council here on Wednesday, A.Joseph Gerald of the Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam observed that the city appeared to be in for a long and severe summer ahead and wanted to know what measures were being taken to avert a repeat of the scarcity situation a few years back.
O.R.Sriraman of the Communist Party of India wanted the Corporation to ensure that suburbs, getting supply from mains passing through rural areas that face load shedding for longer duration, were not affected.
Arivudainambi of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam said water supply in Woraiyur area had been affected and wanted the authorities to set right the problems. Venkataraj, independent, said that supply to his ward has already come down.
Responding to the queries, R.Chandran, Executive Engineer, said the Corporation was fully geared up to meet the city's requirements. Currently, the city's requirement of 98 million litres a day was being pumped and supplied. Unlike in the past, additional borewells have been sunk on the Corporation's drinking water sources on the Cauvery river.
Steps were being taken to get a high tension connection to the Jeeyapuram Pumping Station to avoid interruptions owing to load shedding. If necessary, the Public Works Department would be requested to store some water at the Upper Anaicut to give periodic wettings for the city's drinking water sources, he said.
Commissioner T. T. Balsamy said the Corporation had the necessary infrastructure in place to meet the city's drinking water requirements for the summer. He and Mayor S. Sujatha, who was in the chair, assured the councillors that a separate meeting would be convened to elicit the suggestions of the councillors.
Quality pipes
Responding to a complaint from Mr. Venkataraj and Mr. Gerald on the quality of pipes used for the drinking water supply augmentation scheme, currently under implementation, Mr.Balsamy said the pipes were being subject to stringent quality checks. However, he urged the councillors to give in writing complaints so that he could call for an explanation from the supplier.
Later, the council witnessed some heated exchanges between S.Balamurugan, chairman, Golden Rock zone, and Ms.Sujatha when he found fault with the Mayor for failing to increase the financial allocation for ward committees in the Budget. Ms.Sujatha said that the allocation could not be increased in view of the financial crunch.
