Work on drinking water scheme to begin soon

The work on the Rs.26.40-crore drinking water scheme designed to quench the thirst of 118 villages, including the tsunami-affected coastal hamlets in the district, will begin in a month, the Radhapuram MLA M. Appavu has said.

He was speaking at a meeting at Valliyoor on Saturday to disburse revolving fund and subsidised loan to self-help groups of tsunami-affected villages.

Mr. Appavu said that water to be drawn from filtration wells to be dug in the Tamiraparani near Srivaikuntam in Tuticorin district would be taken to Kuttam, the first beneficiary village of the scheme, and then to the remaining 117 villages — up to Koottapuli.

After the Asian Development Bank had come forward to fund the project and tenders had already been approved, the work would begin and be completed within a year. Since an exclusive electricity feeder line right from the filtration well was to be created for the scheme, power-cuts would not affect pumping and supply of drinking water to the coastal hamlets.

"The State Government, which quenched the thirst of hundreds of villages in the southern parts of the district through the Panagudi-Valliyoor Combined Drinking Water Scheme during 1996 - 2001, has once again come to the rescue of the villagers of costal region by designing the scheme," Mr. Appavu said.

The fishermen of tsunami-affected villages would get Rs.10,000 within a week for their fish-gears damaged in the catastrophe.

The MLA said the Chief Minister was keen on constructing groynes in all coastal villages so that boats, fish-gears, nets and the precious lives of fishermen would be protected even at the time of natural calamities like tsunami.

The Speaker, R. Avudaiyappan, disbursed revolving fund and subsidised loan to the tune of Rs.2.01 crore to 527 SHGs in the tsunami-affected areas.

The Collector G. Prakash said welfare schemes in the coastal hamlets would be implemented shortly on an outlay of Rs.13 crore, to be funded by the Asian Development Bank.

The Nanguneri MLA H. Vasanthakumar and the Project Director, District Rural Development Agency F. Abdul Razick, spoke.

Source: The Hindu