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.