PWD takes first step in renovation of Uyyakondan

Tenders invited for the Rs.14-crore project and bids to be opened on May 28

Tiruchirapalli City Corporation workers removing garbage at Uyyankondan canal in Tiruchi on Saturday.— PHOTO: B. VELANKANNI RAJ

Work on the rehabilitation and modernisation of the Uyyakondan canal, which is reeling under the onslaught of urban pollution, is set to begin soon with the Public Works Department calling for tenders for the project recently.

The move follows the sanction of about Rs. 14 crore by the State government last year for renovating the heavily polluted city stretch of the canal.

The tender for the project was notified on May 12 and the bids received are scheduled to be opened on May 28, sources in the PWD told

The Hindu .

According to the sources, the funds would be utilised for providing bed lining and construction of retaining wall for a stretch of 1,250 metres in the Palakkarai area, where the canal was subject to the heaviest pollution. Fencing would be done to prevent dumping of solid wastes into the canal. The PWD would clear the silt on the polluted stretch.

The 1,000-year-old Uyyakondan canal, built by Raja Raja Cholan and renovated by Kulothunga Cholan, has an ayacut of 32,000 acres and feeds 36 tanks.

Sixty per cent of its course that traverses about 71 km between Pettavaithalai and Vazhavanthankottai tank was subjected to heavy urban pollution. Several open drains and sewage from houses were let out directly into the canal on the 7-km stretch between Palakkarai and Ariyamangalam.

Sources indicated that the PWD had issued notices to about 200 to 300 residents living along the canal asking them to stop discharging sewage into the canal within a week. However, civic activists say the coordinated action was necessary from the PWD, Tiruchirapalli City Corporation and the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board to check the pollution.

Last year, voluntary organisations in association with the district administration and the corporation launched a public campaign to clean up the canal. The corporation had announced that it had identified 34 places where sewerage flowed into the canal and steps would be taken to plug the same.

Although the campaign did not gather steam after the initial push, District Collector K.S. Palanisamy has shown much keenness to clean up the canal and its banks.

Mr. Palanisamy, along with the Uyyakondan Protection Committee, formed in the wake of the public campaign, has inspected the canal twice over the past fortnight to direct and supervise the clean up operations.