Minister for Municipal Administration K.N. Nehru laying the foundation stone for an underground drainage project at Uthangudi in Madurai on Sunday.
| Photo Credit: G. MOORTHY
Out of the 100 wards in Madurai city, the added wards from the peripheries included in 2011 covering Madurai East, Thiruparankundram, Madurai North and Madurai South Assembly Constituencies would soon get the Underground Drainage (UGD) connections.
Laying the foundation stone for the project under Amrut 2.0 to be built at an estimated cost of ₹471.89 crore here on Sunday, Minister K.N. Nehru said that the government is committed to providing basic infrastructural facilities to the public.
Speaking on the occasion, he said that Madurai city corporation originally had 72 wards where the UGD connections were in existence.
Subsequently, in 2011, a few of the panchayats and municipalities were roped in to the Corporation limits taking the total number of wards to 100. Five zones were also established then.
In the first phase, ₹307.78 crore was spent on 22 wards for laying the UGD pipes and wards 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 13, 15, 17, 18, 19, 20, 33, 34, 37, 38, 39 and 40 got the infrastructural facility. A total of 14,905 houses were connected and three sewage pumping stations were established.
Due to various reasons, the remaining wards in many of the extension areas could not get the UGD facility then and following representations from the public, the government earmarked funds and the works would be executed soon, he said.
He said that the UGD connection would be provided to 16 wards on the north bank of the Vaigai – 1,4,5,6,7,8,9,11, 13, 15,17,18,19,36,40,41 at ₹179.09 crore covering 215 km and 25,555 connections would be given to the dwellings.
On the south bank, Mr. Nehru said that 15 wards – 41, 84,86, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99 and 100 would be covered at ₹292.80 crore. A total of 285-km-long pipes would be laid and 53,672 houses would benefit from the facility.
Ministers P. Moorthy and Palanivel Thiaga Rajan, MLAs G. Thalapathi, M. Boominathan, Collector M S Sangeetha, Mayor Indrani Pon Vasanth, Corporation Commissioner Dinesh Kumar and Director Municipal Administration Sivarasu and other officials participated.
Published – January 12, 2025 08:24 pm IST