DPR for integrated stormwater drain in Vellore to be prepared: Mayor

Vellore Corp. to construct integrated stormwater drain to end waterlogging. TNUIFSL to prepare DPR. Joint survey to be done. Drain to be designed based on topography. Councillors raised issues of water supply, sewage, roads, stray dogs, source segregation & wages. 157 works to be taken up in 4 zones at ₹104 cr.

Waterlogging on narrow streets and bylanes, especially during monsoon within Vellore Corporation limits, will soon come to an end with the construction of integrated stormwater drain that will replace the existing narrow drains in the town, said Mayor Sujatha Anandakumar at the council meeting at its headquarters here on Monday. The Tamil Nadu Urban Infrastructure Financial Services Limited (TNUIFSL) will prepare a detailed project report (DPR) in this regard, she added.

As part of the DPR work, a joint survey of the town by a team of experts from TNUIFSL and engineers of the Corporation will be done in the coming weeks. “Based on the report, funds will be sought from the World Bank through the State government. The new drain in 4,700 streets will be scientifically designed based on the topography of the area and its gradient level,” the Mayor said.

Councillors highlighted irregular water supply, incomplete underground sewage system and bad roads. “As the Corporation school in my ward is a few feet below the existing road level, the playground and wash rooms get inundated during rains. At least, new wash rooms for students should be built in the school that has around 1,200 students,” said K. Dharvammal of Ward-29 from Thottapalayam.

Stray dogs menace, source segregation and non-payment of wages to contract sanitary workers by the outsourced agency were other civic issues that were highlighted.

Corporation Commissioner, P.Rathinasamy, said that at present, the civic body sterilised 1,200 stray dogs. However, as per the Animal Birth Control (ABC) norms, such sterilised dogs should be released only in their habitat. So, stray dogs were back in the same locality. “In consultation with the Department of Animal Husbandry, we are planning to increase the number of stray dogs for sterilisation to 2,000. The Corporation will also organise consultative meetings with residents for a common landfill site for 241 metric tonnes of garbage generated daily,” he said.

The two-hour-long council meeting passed a resolution for 157 works that would be taken up in all its four zones, covering 60 wards, at a cost of ₹104 crore.