Illegal sewer lines in slum areas to be regularised
Ambitious project of converting stormwater into potable water in the pipeline, says mayor Duraisamy
By : DC Correspondent
Update: 2013-11-23 12:11 GMT
Chennai: Concerned over the periodic inflow of sewer into stormwater drains, the Chennai Corporation council came up with a proposal on Friday to regularize illegal sewer connections in slum areas. Announcing the scheme in the council meet, Mayor Saidai S. Duraisamy also admitted that there were several public toilets maintained by the civic body, draining their wastes into stormwater drains and polluting water channels in the city. He blamed the previous DMK regime for going slow on stormwater drain projects and encouraging illegal connections.
Duraisamy pointed out that the health department had issued data in 2007, revealing that there were around 1.65 lakh illegal sewer connections in the city. The administrators had ignored this. The information was now assessed and all illegal connections will be plugged in a phased manner, the mayor said. “We will make sure that all houses get drainage connections, so that waste is not drained into storm water drains; the expenditure will be mostly borne by the civic body,” he said.
Stormwater projects are gaining momentum and only about 15 per cent of the work is pending. The mayor also said that an ambitious project of converting stormwater into potable water would soon be envisaged.
The Chennai corporation council passed 59 resolutions on Friday. A resolution to increase the scholarships to top scorers in Std X and Std XII was passed in which '42 lakh would be distributed to around 275 beneficiaries. In another resolution, the council agreed to provide sundal (boiled Bengal gram) to Std X and Std XII students during special classes.