The heavy load shedding not only poses a problem to the city residents, but also to civic managers.
Faced with overflow of sewage from some of the lifting stations of the underground drainage system in the city, Tiruchi Corporation has decided to install generators at six such stations situated in low-lying areas in Srirangam to keep them running during power cuts.
The corporation council, at its recent meeting, gave its approval for installing generators at the lifting stations at the Thiruvanaikovil Trunk Road, Sri Nagar, Burma Colony, Jhansi Nagar along Amma Mandapam Road, Kandan Nagar and Nelson Road, all in Srirangam. The corporation would invest about Rs.33 lakh for installing the generators at these lifting stations. The corporation would meet the expenditure from the Rs.100 lakh allotted in its annual budget for maintenance and operation of the drainages.
The underground sewer system had 26 roadside lifting stations in the city. Of these 19 were in and around Amma Mandapam Road and Thiruvanaikovil areas in Srirangam zone, according to an official resolution tabled at the council. The sewage from the underground system is pumped to the nearby pumping stations through the roadside lifting stations. Given the frequent power cuts, pumping of sewage from the lifting stations is disrupted, resulting in overflow of sewage from manholes on the roads.
This, it was pointed out, posed a health hazard, leading to complaints from the public and hence the decision to install the generators. There was also a possibility of sewage overflowing at toilets in households due to the disruption in pumping.
According to corporation sources, the generators were being fitted into lifting stations which were situated in low-lying areas and were prone to being affected due to the disruption in pumping.
Problems were being faced at a few lifting stations in other parts of the city too, especially the one near Bishop Heber College on the Vayalur Road. The civic body had to hire generators to tide over the situation, sources said.
