TIRUNELVELI
Work on the suspended underground drainage work in Melapalayam and Palayamkottai zones after the contractor abandoned the project midway citing various reasons will resume once the Commissioner for Municipal Administration gives the nod for awarding fresh contract.
Responding to the query from chairman of Palayamkottai Zone of Tirunelveli Corporation M. Francis in the council meeting held on Wednesday, Corporation Commissioner B. Vishnu Chandran said the contract firm, which was executing the underground drainage project in the Melapalayam and Palayamkottai Zones had withdrawn itself from executing the project being implemented for conserving the Tamirabharani from getting polluted by domestic sewage.
Consequently, a fresh proposal for executing the Rs. 600 crore-worth project has now been submitted to the Commissioner for Municipal Administration for the mandatory approval. Once the proposal gets cleared by the CMA, it will be subsequently forwarded to the Secretary, Department of Local Administration. After this, the Tirunelveli Corporation will be asked to float fresh tender inviting bids will be floated and the contract awarded to the lowest bidder, Mr. Vishnu Chandran said.
“This process will consume a minimum of 3 months,” said the Corporation officials.
The delay in completing the underground drainage project was raised by councilor Wilson Manidurai also.
Mr. Francis also expressed displeasure over the spending of Rs. 18 crore for laying the road near Parvathi Theatre from the Rs. 21.41 crore collected from the public for regularizing unapproved plots on the city outskirts.
“If you collect this whopping sum from the public for regularizing the unapproved plots, the amount collected from them should have been spent for creating basic amenities like streetlight, drinking water, underground drainage etc. in their area. Instead, you have spent the money for laying a road in some other area, which is unacceptable,” Mr. Francis said.
Chairperson of Melapalayam Zone Kathija Iqlam Fazila submitted a long list of demands to the Mayor and the Commissioner as the Melapalyam. Explaining lucidly about the needs, Ms. Kathija said the shortage of sanitary workers had resulted in the accumulation of waste in the wards under this zone and hence more men and material should be deployed in this zone, which is in awkward condition.
Moreover, periodic desilting of drainage channels, parks in Melapalayam area under the ‘Smart City’ programme and overhead tank at the places wherever it was required to strengthen drinking water supply were other demands from Ms. Kathija, who was backed by CPI (M) councilor Muthu Subramanian.
When some of the councilors appealed to Mayor P.M. Saravanan to allot sufficient funds for installing new handpumps wherever they were required and provide spares to repair the broken-down handpums, he accepted the plea. The councilors also urged the Corporation administration to impound the stray cattle causing road accidents and catch the stray dogs biting the public.
Intervening, Palayamkottai MLA M. Abdul Wahab, while accepting the demand, appealed to the councilors not to exert pressure on the Corporation officials to release the impounded stray cattle.
Chairpersons Maheshwari of Tirunelveli Zone, Kathija Iqlam Fazila of Melapalayam and Mr. Francis urged the Mayor to replace the age-old motors in all drinking water pumping stations with more powerful new pumps and install generators in the pumping stations to ensure the operation of motors even during power cuts.
When councilor Sharmila urged the Corporation not to demolish the decades-old Gandhi Market in Palayamkottai for reconstructing the market with more facilities under the ‘Smart City’ project, Mr. Abdul Wahab said the existing traders of Gandhi Market would be accommodated in the temporary shops on the Jawahar Ground and Police Quarters ground and would be given the shops again in the Gandhi Market once it was completed.
