MADURAI
With officials from Madurai Corporation digging up the Vaigai South Bank Road near Santhaipettai on Friday to lay a pipeline to connect Sottathatti channel to the Vaigai river, a section of residents and activists blamed the Corporation for blatantly violating the norms to let sewage water into the river.
“These days only sewage runs in Sottathatti channel. It is unacceptable on the part of the Corporation to let this inside the river, particularly when there is water flow in the Vaigai to a reasonable extent now,” said N. Murugan, a resident of Santhaipettai.
Even as the work was in progress, some members of the activist group Naanal Nanbargal, who visited the spot, registered their opposition to the officials and appealed to them to stop the work.
“On the one hand, the Corporation is doing Swachh Bharat initiatives and campaigns to clean up the Vaigai. On the other hand, it is openly letting sewage into Vaigai,” said S. Sridhar, a member of the group.
Pointing out that the Madurai Bench of Madras High Court on various occasions had stressed keeping the Vaigai free from garbage, he said that the action of Corporation amounted to violation of the court’s orders.
However, Corporation officials denied the allegations that sewage was being let into the river and contended that pipeline repair work was being carried out only to let the excess water from Sottathatti channel, which carried stormwater, into the river.
“It is not true that Sottathatti channel carries sewage water,” a senior official from the Corporation said.
“Importantly, it is not a new pipeline that we are laying. It was already there and had broken. It is only repair work that we are carrying out,” an official said, adding that the water will flow into Vaigai only when the channel overflows.
