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Tamil Nadu-Chennai
By K. Manikandan
The department's decision has agitated residents and councillors, who have already run out of patience, with the project yet to commence despite the necessary infrastructure in place and after being formally inaugurated by the Chief Minister last month. The councillors recalled that in September last year, the Council had rejected the Government's proposal to fix the house service connection charges at over Rs. 3,000 and unanimously passed a resolution that residents should not be charged more than Rs. 1,000. They felt it would be unfair to force assessees to pay another hefty sum, as "most residents just cannot afford to pay more than Rs. 1,000 for house connections". The actual cost of executing the house connections would work out to even less than Rs. 1,000. While individual house owners have to pay Rs. 3,395, flat owners had to pay Rs. 4,790 and an additional sum of Rs. 350. The councillors dismissed official arguments that the rate had been calculated as per Metrowater norms. They said the Government proposal that had been rejected in September last year pertained to collection of Rs. 2.7 crores by way of house connections, for executing repair works in those streets that had been damaged due to sinking of sewer lines and also for constructing stormwater drains. The Chairman, R. S. Bharathi, said the Rs. 27-crore project with private-public participation was the first of its kind in the country. The residents had contributed Rs. 8 crores and Rs. 2 crores had been earned as interest on this amount. He said the original cost was put at Rs. 34 crores and later pegged at Rs. 27 crores as the contractor preferred to bear the cost of the Sewage Treatment Plant of Rs. 7 crores on a BOOT basis. "Once the first phase of the project is completed, the remaining 10,000 assessees will start paying the deposit and we hope to realise Rs. 6 crores and the TUFIDCO also would be granting the balance loan amount of Rs. 9 crores", he said. With these funds, the remaining work could be completed. Further, road repair works could also be completed utilising the same funds. "There is no need for collecting more than Rs. 1,000 from the residents for house connections", Mr. Bharathi stated. He was of the opinion that the decision taken by the department was unilateral and arbitrary. "If the department does not approve a Council's resolution, it can send it back to us with an advice to reconsider", he said, and added the department should come out in the open and clarify the situation. He suggested that the proposed amount could be collected from those constructing new buildings and who had not spent money on septic tanks. Meanwhile, residents feel they have been given a raw deal all along the project and seem to be a disillusioned lot. They said they had an important role to play in mobilisation of resources and nearly a year after the scheduled date of completion, they felt they were let down by the government agencies and their local body as well. The charges fixed, they said, ran contrary to the earlier promises made by the local body. The United Forum of Nanganallur Welfare Associations has appealed to the Social Welfare Minister and their MLA, B. Valarmathi, to intervene in the issue.
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