Govt approves Rs91.7 crore UDG project in Mettupalayam

Coimbatore: After a long struggle of over five years to save Bhavani river from being polluted by local people, the Mettupalayam municipality will finally implement the underground drainage project in the town located on the Bhavani river bed.
The state government has finalized and sanctioned the project for all three towns - Kumarapalayam, Bhavani and Mettupalayam, which releases sewage into the Bhavani river, said the official.
Chairman of Mettupalayam Municipality, D Satheesh Kumar, said that the 91.7cr project was sanctioned and will be implemented by the Tamil Nadu Water and Drainage Board. "We have been asking for this project for over five years and are happy that it has been sanctioned. Earlier, there were some feasibility and funding issues which have been resolved," he said.
The state government will give 64.19 crore as grant, 18.34 crore as loan and another 9.17 crore will have to be funded by the municipality. "We will hold a council meeting this week and pass the resolution for the project after which the detailed project report will be sent for administrative and technical sanction from the state government," said Satheesh.
Under this project, 22,000 households and commercial connections will be given and several man holes will be constructed. They will also set up a sewage treatment plant near the dump yard where an 8 MLD plant will be set up. Pipelines would also be laid. "Currently, we supply 10 MLD water to Mettupalayam and 6-8MLD water is let out as sewage. This would be treated before being let out," he said. Officials also added that the treated water may be supplied to industries and colleges for washing and cleaning purposes.
M Su Mani, secretary of Save Bhavani trust, an NGO, said, "We have been fighting for the cleanliness of the river for a long time. Apart from household sewage and drainage, factory effluents also enter the river. We want a solution for this as well. We are hoping that this announcement is not just another eye wash before the local body election. We hope that Mettupalayam will learn from the mistakes of Coimbatore municipal corporation and implement the project successfully," he said.
Activists said that though the project looked grand, officials lacked expertise in implementing it. "In Coimbatore, the project got delayed by over 10 years and was plagued by corruption. We don't know how it would be implemented here," said another activist.
But the Mettupalayam municipality chairman said that since it was the need of the hour he was sure that officials and politicians would cooperate in implementing the project. "We will try to call for tenders before the local body elections are announced," he said.