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Municipal Finance

Revival for ancient Tambaram tank

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The Times of Hindu 25.08.2009

Revival for ancient Tambaram tank

CHENNAI: Work on desilting and deepening the Old Tambaram Tank of the Bhimeswar temple on Mudichur Main Road began on Thursday. The work was supervised by Tambaram MLA S R Raja who contributed Rs 5 lakh from his local constituency fund and the municipality supplied the remaining Rs 1.6 lakh. The tank had been renovated last year but again fell into disuse.

Municipal workers began removing the sludge from all the corners. Municipal officials said toilets and water taps would be built and adequate illumination provided. The damaged walker's path around the tank would be repaired and Korean grass planted along the pathway. A play area with equipment for children would also be set up in the open space available. "The dredging and deepening work will be completed within a fortnight while the entire work will be finished in two months," Tambaram municipality chairman E Mani told TOI.

"It is hearting to see the centuries-old-tank being given a facelift again, suprevised by MLA Raja himself. Repeated representations to the local body have borne fruit," said S Shanmugam, a resident of West Tambaram.

Located a few yards away from the residence of Raja, "Pazhaya Tambaram Kulam" as it is popularly known, was displayed as a "model" of people-government cooperation when it was renovated in February 2008 after over four decades of neglect at a cost of Rs 26 lakh. The Chennai Metropolitan Development Agency (CMDA) contributed Rs 8 lakh under its community-based environment development programme, the Tambaram municipality spent Rs 4 lakh, an amount of Rs 10 lakh came from MP T R Baalu's local area development fund, S R Raja gave Rs 5 lakh and the residents of West Tambaram pooled in Rs 1 lakh.

Within a few months, however, the tank returned to its former decreipt state. Thick vegetation covered all the sides and people began dumping garbage there. Most of the lights around the tank were broken, the walker's path got damaged and the water level went down. The rainwater harvesting system was also not put to use effectively.

The tank, said to be the oldest in the area, was very popular with the residents of West Tambaram.

 

State government sanctions Rs. 5 crore for drought relief

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The Hindu 13.07.2009

State government sanctions Rs. 5 crore for drought relief

Special Correspondent
To enable the various local bodies to tide over the drinking water scarcity

“Rainfall received this year was 32% less than the normal rainfall till this part of the year”

Officials have been asked to cut the drinking water supply to bulk consumers


VELLORE: The Tamil Nadu government has sanctioned a sum of Rs. five crore as the first instalment of drought relief to Vellore district, out of the Rs. 14 crore sought by the district administration, to enable the various local bodies to undertake immediate measures to tide over the drinking water scarcity in the light of the deficiency in rainfall and the consequent drying up of the drinking water sources in the Palar river, according to C. Rajendran, Collector of Vellore. Of this amount, Rs. three crore has been allotted to the panchayat unions, Rs.95 lakh to the municipalities, Rs.75 lakh to the town panchayats and Rs.30 lakh to the Vellore Corporation, he said.

Talking to newspersons after holding a meeting with the Block Development Officers (BDOs) of 20 panchayat unions, Commissioner of the Vellore Corporation, Commissioners of 13 municipalities and executive officers of 22 town panchayats in the district at the Collectorate here on Sunday, Mr. Rajendran said that the rainfall received by Vellore district this year was 32% less than the normal rainfall till this part of the year. Consequent to the government sanctioning an immediate interim drought relief amount of Rs. five crore, he conducted the meeting in order to identify the priority areas in the various local bodies requiring immediate attention in drought relief so that the grant could be disbursed to them based on their proposals. Among the 20 panchayat unions in Vellore district, Gudiyatham, K.V. Kuppam, Natrampalli, Kandhili, Tirupattur, Nemili and Jolarpet panchayat unions and parts of Alangayam panchayat union were badly affected by the drought. Of the 22 town panchayats, the town panchayats of Katpadi, Gandhinagar, Kazhinjur, Allapuram and Thorappadi were badly affected, while among the 13 municipalities in the district, the Tharapadavedu Third Grade Municipality was badly affected.

The Collector said that the BDOs, executive officers and commissioners of the affected panchayat unions, town panchayats and municipalities have been asked to identify the priority water scarcity areas and submit proposals for drought relief measures based on the immediate needs. They have also been asked to take steps on a war-footing, to execute the various works in order to overcome the drinking water problem and alleviate the sufferings of the people. He said that the Deputy Chief Minister M.K. Stalin had announced in the Assembly that if necessary, more funds would be sanctioned for drought relief to Vellore district. The officials have been asked to cut the drinking water supply to bulk consumers such as marriage halls, hotels and lodges, and divert the supply to the residential areas in all local bodies facing acute drinking water scarcity. They have also been asked to seize motors and disconnect the water connection of all consumers who were found to be resorting to the practice of illegal tapping of water using motors.

Mr. Rajendran said that the Sathuvachari Third Grade Municipality, which was having surplus supply, has agreed to supply 22 lakh litres per day (LLD) to the Vellore Corporation. The latter has agreed to supply 10 LLD to the Allapuram town panchayat, which in turn has agreed to supply three LLD to the Thorappadi town panchayat. The work on the sinking of additional wells under the Allapuram-Thorappadi Integrated Drinking Water Supply Scheme in the Palar River would be over in another one month and the supply to these town panchayats increased. Thanks to the gesture of Sathuvachari Municipality, Vellore Corporation and Allapuram town panchayat, it would be possible to increase the frequency of water supply in Thorappadi town panchayat from once in 25 days to once in 10 days, he said.

Earlier participating in the meeting, the Collector asked the Commissioner of Vellore Corporation P. Kubendran to reduce the duration of water supply from two hours to one hour so that the frequency of water supply could be increased from once a week or 10 days to once in four days. Similar instructions were also given to the authorities of the municipalities and town panchayats.

 

 

unicipality seeks funds

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Source : The Hindu Date : 09.07.2009

unicipality seeks funds

Staff Reporter

To renovate Anna Bus Stand

 


Municipality planning a proposal seeking Rs. 3 crore

A discussion to be held on Friday in the council meeting


Nagercoil: It has been decided to renovate the Anna Bus Stand and a proposal in this connection would be forwarded seeking allotment of adequate funds, said the chairman or Nagercoil Municipality, Asokan Solomon.

. The State government had allotted Rs. 2 crore for the development works to be carried out under the Integrated Development Planning Scheme. The municipality had prepared strategic plans for renovation of Vadaserry vegetable and fish markets with the allocated funds.

Since no company came forward to bag tenders for the renovation works, it got delayed for three years. Subsequently the Centre had ordered the revocation of funds stating that the State Government could not provide funds for the renovation and the municipality should bear the cost.

Meanwhile the municipality had decided to use the same fund for the renovation of Anna Bus Stand, which was also getting delayed.

But the State government subsequently withdrew the amount saying that the municipality was not authorised to utilize a fund that was meant of another project. Therefore the municipality was planning to place a proposal seeking Rs. 3 crore for the renovation of Anna Bus Stand and Vadaserry market. A discussion in this connection would be held on Friday since the council meeting was postponed to Friday.

As the municipality was on the verge of returning the unused grant to the government, councillors of AIADMK and MDMK criticised the authorities who seemed least bothered about the development of the Nagercoil Municipal limits.

 


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