Members of various residents welfare associations have expressed dissatisfaction over the way the Pallavapuram Municipality has handled the water crisis. These associations claim that even efforts to ensure water supply once in four days have not been entirely satisfactory. At a recent meeting convened by the Federation of Welfare Associations of Pallavaram and Chromepet, they urged the Chennai Metrowater to take over the entire water supply process in these areas. V. Santhanam, president of the Federation, said that the Municipality was struggling to supply water to the residents and that all the wells in the area had gone dry.
In Chromepet, water springs could not be traced even at a depth of 500 ft.
Residents say that a population of around 2.5 lakh people constituting 42 wards under the Pallavapuram municipality used to get 55 lakh litres of water a day. Now, they are forced to manage with just 20 lakh litres a day. Metrowater supplies water to a few areas in Pallavaram and the Tamil Nadu Water Supply and Drainage (TWAD) Board supplies to a few areas in Chromepet.
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S. Sivasubramanian, municipal commissioner, said that they were getting 25 lakh litres of water a day from the TWAD Board and 25 lakh litres from Metrowater. “We also get 20 lakh litres from local sources. Nearly 100 lorry-loads of water are being distributed among families below the poverty line. Also, several recharge-wells near the waterbodies were cleaned up by the Municipality before this summer to get an additional supply.” The other resolutions at the meeting include taking up the restoration of Pallavaram and Keelkattalai lakes and completion of Radha Nagar vehicular subway, which is facing inordinate delay due to land acquisition process.