The Tiruchirapalli City Corporation has planned to regulate private operators engaged in cleaning septic tanks and disposing wastewater through tanker lorries.
With just about 35 per cent of the area of the corporation being covered by underground drainage system, households, and commercial establishments in most parts of the city collect their sewerage in septic tanks that need to be periodically cleaned. The task was carried out mostly by private operators who operate tanker-lorries fitted with suction machines.
Although these operators were in big demand and meet an important civic task, some of the truckers allegedly let out the wastewater collected by them in open spaces in the city and on its outskirts. The trucks are supposed to let out the waste water only at the corporation’s sewage treatment farm at Panchapur.
Taking cognisance of the problem for the first time, the civic body had decided to regulate these vehicles by introducing a licence system. The proposal would be put forward before the Corporation Council for its approval.
Once the system is in place, it will be mandatory for private tankers to obtain licence for carrying wastewater. No vehicle would be allowed to operate without licence and the corporation would lay down the rules for their operation, official sources said.
The civic body plans to charge an annual licence fee of Rs. 2,000 a vehicle and would charge them Rs. 30 a trip for letting out the waste water at the Panchapur sewage farm.
Owners of vehicles that operate without licence would have to pay a penalty of Rs. 5,000. If the same vehicle was caught for the offence for the third time, the vehicle would be impounded.
