Drainage lines of 25 buildings sealed

The Udhagamandalam Municipality blocked the drainage lines of 25 buildings, including houses, cottages and resorts located along the Kodappamund Channel on Friday.

Officials said that the owners of the buildings were illegally routing sewage into the channel, which drains into the Ooty Lake.

A team of officials, led by Municipal Engineer C. Ravi, conducted an inspection of all buildings and commercial establishments built along the channel. Two weeks ago, the sewage treatment plant at the Ooty Lake had become dysfunctional due to plastic waste clogging up the intake line of the plant, leading to an obnoxious stench emanating from the lake.

In order to check the places along the channel where garbage was being dumped, and also to prevent sewage from being released untreated into the lake, the municipality conducted the inspection on Friday. Officials said that they found buildings along Commercial Road, Greenfields and the Lower Bazaar Road, which were directly releasing sewage into the channel.

The officials blocked all the sewage lines from the buildings, and informed the building owners that they had a month’s time to apply to the municipality to get their sewage lines connected to the underground drains that have been installed across town.

Officials said that if the violations continue, and the owners of the buildings continue to release sewage into the channel, they would be fined, and eventually, even their drinking water connections could be terminated.