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Work on Hogenakkal scheme to begin in March: Stalin

Monday, 09 November 2009 02:08 administrator
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The Hindu 09.11.2009

Work on Hogenakkal scheme to begin in March: Stalin

Staff Reporter

Says it will start as per schedule and finish before March 2012

— Photo: N. Bashkaran

Deputy Chief Minister M.K. Stalin after unveiling the Periyar statue at Paruvathanaalli in Dharmapuri district on Sunday.

DHARMAPURI: Work on the Hogenakkal Integrated Drinking Water Scheme would start as per schedule in March 2010, said Deputy Chief Minister M.K. Stalin here on Sunday.

Mr. Stalin said the project would be undertaken in five stages. Tenders were floated for five stages of works, the tenders would be finalised soon and the actual work for the scheme would start in full swing well before March. The project would be completed before March 2012, he said.

The bids of the tenders for the first stage of works would be opened on Wednesday. Nine companies have participated.

Bids for the second stage would be opened on December 21, third stage on December 31, fourth stage on November 20 for supplying drinking water to Hosur and fifth stage on December 29.

Mr. Stalin was here to lay the foundation stone, inaugurate new buildings and distribute revolving funds to self-help groups (SHGs) and inaugurated the fifth Samathuvapuram in Paruvathanaalli village in Pennagaram taluk.

Lion’s share

Rs.11,132 crore worth of loans were distributed to SHGs in the country, out of which Tamil Nadu got the lion’s share of nearly 20 per cent, that is, Rs.2,174 crore, during the 2008-09 fiscal year.

On the eve of Periyar E.V. Ramasamy 95th birth anniversary, Chief Minister Karunanidhi announced that 95 Samathuvapurams would be established across the State. As per his announcement, so far 29 Samathuvapurams were established in the State, of which 10 were already inaugurated. The first was inaugurated by the Chief Minister. Another 19 would be inaugurated before December 31.

Mr. Stalin said that another 30 Samathuvapurams would be set up during the 2010-11 financial year and the rest in the following fiscal.

He laid the foundation stone for the Harur Samathuvapuram at an outlay of Rs.21.17 crore.

Revolving fund

He also laid the foundation for 747 development works through various departments at a total outlay of Rs.56.76 crore, inaugurated new buildings and work to the tune of Rs.29.82 crore and gave away financial assistance to 55,221 beneficiaries to the tune of Rs.31.74 crore.

Mr. Stalin also distributed Rs.7.80 crore as revolving fund to 1,311 women SHGs.

Earlier, R. Thamaraiselvan, Dharmapuri M.P.; V. Mullaivendan, Morappur M.L.A.; and P. Dilli Babu demanded a SIPCOT industrial estate and an arts college in Harur, mango pulp industry in Palacode and malibnum industry at Harur.

In her presidential speech, Collector P. Amutha joined issue with the people’s representatives.

Last Updated on Monday, 09 November 2009 02:09
 

Officials Happy As Water Levels Increase In Lakes

Saturday, 07 November 2009 08:23 administrator
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The Times of India 07.11.2009

Officials Happy As Water Levels Increase In Lakes

Vivek Narayanan, TNN 7 November 2009, 04:14am IST

CHENNAI: For the Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (CMWSSB), the 15 cm rainfall on Thursday has helped store water enough for five days of supply.

According to CMWSSB officials, on Friday, the four reservoirs together witnessed an increase of 146 million cubic feet (mcft) compared to Thursday's level. While on Thursday the storage level was 3,246 mcft, on Friday it was 3392 mcft.

But the catch is that, rainfall was high only in the Chembarambakkam reservoir. The catchment area received 80 mm of rain on Thursday and a total inflow of 1377 cubic foot per second (cusec). The other three had very little rainfall Poondi- 15 mm, Cholavaram-8 mm and Red Hills -11 mm.

"As the level in Chembarambakkam has increased, we diverted 400 cusecs to Red Hills reservoir," said a senior CMWSSB official.

But despite the heavy rainfall, the combined level of all the four reservoirs is just half the level seen on the same date last year. The level is nearly 2,677 mcft lesser than the 6,069 mcft recorded on the same day last year. "This year during October, the rains were not sufficient enough. The monthly average rainfall in the Red Hills, Cholavaram and Poondi was only 86 mm. Hence the level is low. But we will be receiving Krishna water till January and we hope to derive the maximum from the rains," said the official.

Meanwhile, Regional Meteorological department officials state that though the 150mm rainfall was good enough, it was not the best. "There are days when we have received 120 mm in just two hours," said the official.
 

State gobbles up water bodies

Saturday, 07 November 2009 07:57 administrator
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Deccan Chronicle 07.11.2009

State gobbles up water bodies

November 7th, 2009
By Our Correspondent

Chennai, Nov. 6: Eviction of water body encroachments is a common sight. But the unseen truth is that the state government, like land mafia and a few slum-dwellers, is equally responsible for water bodies’ destruction.

According to senior PWD sources, six major lakes in and around Chennai have been converted into TN Housing Board and Slum Clearance Board layouts in the last decade.

Lakes in Avadi, Ambattur, Velachery, Mogappair and Kakalur in Tiruvallur district are a few examples of this, PWD sources, preferring anonymity, revealed. Lakes in Tambaram, Pallikaranai, Medavakkam and even the Chembarambakkam reservoir that supplies water to the city are being encroached currently. A sizeable portion of Kadapperi export processing zone turned SEZ (special economic zone), near Tambaram, lies within a water body, sources pointed out, accusing a leading private hospital of encroaching the Porur tank.

A study has revealed that about 45.55 per cent of Pallikaranai marshland had been encroached for other use between 1991-2001. While commercial establishments like IT and ITeS companies and residential complexes have taken around 83 per cent - that runs up to 807 hectares - roads and garbage yards account for the remaining 17 per cent. In fact, the size of the garbage-dumping yard there had increased from 119.76 acres in 2001 to over 300 hectares now. The bypass road that cuts Pallikaranai wetland into two accounts for 47 hectares marshland. City-based environmental activist Nityanand Jayaraman told this paper that Chennai corporation and CMDA were non-existent agencies promoting real estate. Even the new road projects are designed to run through Cooum, Buckingham canal, Adyar and Mambalam canal, he pointed out.

Testimony to official neglect is that slum clearance board officials have issued patta to about 300 families residing in Tiruvallur lake. PWD officials complained that the revenue department had issued pattas without consulting them. “We have powers to only maintain water bodies that fall within revenue purview,” sources observed, advising revenue officials to scrutinise records, particularly maximum flood level of a lake for at least the last 100 years, before denotifying them and issuing patta. When asked, PWD chief engineer Anbazhagan said the encroachments were stopped long back and the government was keen on protecting water bodies statewide.

 
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