At last, Corporation gets funds

Work to provide lining of 11 drainage channels will resume from December 1

From December 1, it would be a common sight to see corporation workers go about lining drainage channels in the city. File Photo

At last, the Madurai Corporation has received a portion of the Rs. 250 crore special funds announced in the 2012-13 budget in February.

With the first instalment of Rs. 116 crore released by the Government, the Corporation has proposed to resume work on December 1 to provide lining for the 11 drainage channels and construct underground drainage. “We are planning to complete lining of channels one by one, so that at least few of them are lined in full at the earliest with the available funds,” Mayor V.V. Rajan Chellappa, said.

The Corporation has drawn flak ever since the construction works taken up under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission came to a grinding halt towards the end of 2010. The contractors stopped the work after the Corporation could not make its 30 per cent contribution of around Rs. 200 crore for the Rs. 600-crore worth various works sanctioned under the JNNURM.

The local body has been looking up at the State Government for funds to make its contribution for the projects, for which the Centre was contributing 50 per cent and the State 20 per cent.

Though the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam Government made the budgetary allocation of Rs. 250 crore in February, the funds were not coming forth for the last nine months for various reasons and the work had been stopped for two years.

“We will choose the works among the seven packages of 11 drainage works so that few packages are completed in full with the available funds. The next instalment would be allocated in the next financial year,” Corporation Commissioner, R. Nanthagopal, told reporters here on Monday.

Stating that the tenure of first phase of JNNURM gets over by 2013 December, the Commissioner hoped to complete all the works by then to get qualified for getting funds for other development works under the second phase of JNNURM.

“The contractors have agreed to complete the works at the rates agreed earlier,” he added.

The progress of works would be periodically reviewed by the Commissioner and a team of officials from the office of Commissioner of Municipal Administration, Chennai.

The funds will help completion of underground drainage project for 65 km in the left over areas and replacement of worn out underground drainage pipelines for 116 km. Among the incomplete works are lining works of the drainage channels for 49 km and construction of storm water drainage channels for 822 km.