Pallavaram residents seek steps to tide over water crisis

By Our Staff Reporter

CHENNAI, AUG. 26. The Federation of Resident Welfare Associations of Pallavapuram has urged the municipality and the TWAD Board to initiate immediate steps to tide over the water crisis in Chromepet and Pallavaram.

At a meeting here on Saturday, members of the affiliated associations said the Palar water supply scheme was primarily taken up for Pallavaram while Alandur and other local bodies were included later to make the project viable.

The scheme managers had assured 54 LLD (lakh litres a day). However, the installed capacity of overhead tanks at 31 LLD prevented the Board from supplying the quantity. No efforts were made by the municipality to increase the storage level. Even during the monsoon months, the supply hardly topped 25 LLD and the oft-repeated ``excuse'' was power failure at the headworks. Now it was the depleting water table at the river bed, which had brought the supply level to 12 LLD, during the past one month.

The Federation office-bearers had visited the headworks and found that the water level in the wells at Pazhayaseevaram and Vengudi hardly stood at one metre, despite recharge. The distribution records maintained at the pumping stations by the Board indicated that of 110 LLD pumped out, only about 18 LLD was accounted as supply to Pallavaram. Officials there indicated that though there was no direct metering for Pallavaram supply, the figure was arrived at by deducting the storage capacities available in other local bodies served under the scheme. The shortfall in realisation of the pumped quantity was due to the illegal tapping of water by tankers from the ``24 hour water supply'' taps at Kattabomman Street and near ESI hospital. The Board was unable to prevent the theft as the local administration was not cooperating with it.

The members were also told that the arrears in the water charges account was also a cause of concern to the Board, though it could not be directly linked to the short supply.

Mr. D. S. Sivasamy, Federation advisor, regretted that despite the Local Administration Minister, the Secretary and the Commissioner being aware of the 2,500 odd illegal water connections in the town, no action was taken. The connections were being provided in an organised manner and in certain unserved areas they had drawn distribution lines to give clandestine domestic connections.

Several heads of associations affiliated to the Federation condemned the functioning of the municipality and said even the chairman had stated that he was helpless in dealing with the offenders.

The Federation president, Mr. V. Santhanam, said the local body had not taken any action to mitigate the sufferings of the residents. Its assurances regarding alternative supply from a borewell in Kundrathur and from a water source in Katcheri Malai remained only on paper. Assurances of Krishna water scheme extension also did not fructify and residents in most areas had no access to potable water as the ground water had also turned brackish, due to pollution from some leather units in the area.

Over 40 member-associations pledged their support to the Federation on the occasion. Mr. S. Chandrasekaran, president, Bharathi Nagar and NGO Colony Association, winding up the proceedings, said protest action would be planned on the demands.

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Section  : Southern States
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