Four years on, Amma drinking water scheme yet to benefit city residents

The scheme offers treated water from reverse osmosis purifiers free of cost to economically weaker sections - each family would get 20 litres per day. The Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) officials say that they are gradually opening the plants and 29 out of 50 are functioning as of now. However, residents, who do not have Metro water connections complained that though they see such plants, they never benefit from them as several remain dysfunctional. 

Sources said that in order to provide the poor and downtrodden people with purified water, the former CM was keen to implement such a scheme, following which the GCC officials started identifying 100 locations in the city. When people from high and middle class families bought purified water, the economically weaker sections were left in the lurch and relied fully on treated water supplied by the Chennai Metro Water Board. 

However, the corporation officials are yet to establish the remaining 50 plants even as the city is beginning to feel scarcity of water. “We were happy after a unit was established in Thondaiyarpet area and we got water in the beginning. However, the unit was closed soon after and remains shut even now. The officials have not taken any measures to reopen it,” says M Vasanthi, a resident of Thondaiyarpet. “My family is now depended on Metro water, which is also erratic,” she lamented. 

T Karunakaran, another resident of Elephant Gate near Walltax Road says, “I have never seen this unit functioning ever since it was set up.” He doubted that whether such units in other areas functioned. K S Kandasamy, Deputy Commissioner, GCC, told DTNext that a total of 20 purification units were functional and were supplying water to eligible people. However, local residents claimed that none of the 20 units were functioning until about a week ago. When asked about the claim that none were functioning, Kandasamy said, “As on Saturday, we have revived 29 out of the 50 units that were opened in 2013. We will gradually reopen the remaining units by summer for the benefit of the people,” he said and stressed that not even a single unit remained dysfunctional. 

The Corporation is also planning to set up the 50 more such units in the city as planned earlier. Asked about number of beneficiaries, Kandasamy replied that as of now around 1,000 households were benefiting from the scheme.