Corporation severs the connections of households that is polluting Uyyakondan

A DAY after The New Indian Express reported the unnoticed discharge of sewage from domes-tic and commercial establishments into the Uyyakondan irrigation canal passing through the city, district administration and civic body officials inspected the polluted water body on Wednesday. District Collector K Rajamani assured the Corporation would be strictly told to prevent residents and commercial establishments from dumping waste into the water body. The Public Works Department (PWD)would also be told to conduct periodic maintenance to ensure free flow of fresh water. Even though it has been months since Cauvery water from Mettur dam reached the ca-nal, there is plenty of present be-cause of drainage let out by resident s. Despite the City Corporation banning residents from discharging domestic sewage into the canal, as they were deliberately violating the restrictions, aquatic weeds were invading the water body.

This has forced the PWD to spend at least ti latch per year to clean the 7-9-km stretch of the canal. "I have inspected the stretch of Uyya-kondan Canal passing through city limits and insisted the civic body prohibit residents from dis-charging their waste into the ca-nal, which irrrigates thousands of acres of cultivable fields," Ra-jamani said. Sources said around 307 hous-es were found to be discharging their sewage into the canal, particularly on the Palakkarai stretch of the canal. Sewerage outlets of 250 houses have now been severed by the civic body. "The ongoing weed removal proc-ess from Uyyakondan canal will continue. In the first phase, as we are removing floating vegetation on the top, the next phase would deal with removal of stagnant water in the canal," Rajamani said. Along with the District Collec-tor, Corporation Commissioner N Ravichandran inspected stretches of the canal near Pal-akkarai and Anna Nagar Link Road. The Commissioner said that the civic body would ensure the freshwater body would not be polluted any further within city limits. It may be recalled that TNIE in a story dated July 26, 2017, said "PWDshellsoutt4lakh annually to keep Uyyakondan five of weds'. The story highlighted the economic losses faced by the government due to the uncontrolled discharge of sewerage into the irrigation canal.
Source: epaper. . new indianexpress.com//c/20905697