Friday, July 13, 2018

Vaigai revival funds diverted, finds RTI

Times of India: Madurai: Friday, July 13, 2018.
The Tamil Nadu government has sanctioned Rs 1,638.52 lakh to revive the Vaigai river which will be spent over a period of three years, on July 6. But, funds released earlier for Vagai restoration were diverted for other works, as per the reply to RTI filed by NGO Vaigai Nathi Makkal Iyakkam.
Convener of the NGO, M Rajan, said that the Madurai Corporation had failed to take responsibility to check pollution in the river, as per the RTI queries filed by him.
He said that the Vaigai river, which flows for 258km through five districts, is highly polluted only in the 12 km stretch passing through the city.
To a query regarding mixing of sewage in the river, the city health officer said that the flow of sewage into the river has been checked, but it is not so, said Rajan.
“When two new bridges were constructed across the Vaigai near Arapalayam and Sellur, contractors laid internal pipelines and carried the sewage away from the construction site. But it continues to flow in the river till date,” said Rajan.
“They have only reduced the number of sewage discharge points in the city from 56 to 40,” he said.
The engineering wing of the Madurai Corporation, in a reply to an RTI has, said that Rs 11.10 lakh was spent in 2017-18 to prevent flow of sewage into the river and another Rs 22 lakh in 2018-2019 for the same.
In 2014, the central government had sanctioned Rs 120 crore for reviving Vaigai and Rs 63.34 crore was sanctioned to the Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewage Board, which was the nodal agency, through the National River Conservation Directorate. But these funds too were not utilised for Vaigai.
RTI query on how the funds were spent by the board has received a vague reply as it has stated that it was not able to provide the details of the work carried out with the funds.