Water, sewerage facilities elude several added areas

After spending over Rs 340 crore on water supply schemes thus far, Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (CMWSSB) has only managed to extend water connections to 12 areas, while works are under progress at various levels in 24 added areas like IT hub in Sholinganallur, Okkiyam-Thuraipakkam and Nerkundram where a chunk of the All India Service Officers of the state reside.

CMWSSB has fared even worse in sewerage connections.

Going by the data provided by CMWSSB, sewerage connections have been provided only to six of the 42 areas. Sewerage works are in progress at 13 more areas and schemes are at various levels of implementation in another 24 areas.

Pertinently, even in some areas claimed to have been covered by CMWSSB, civic amenities have not reached all residents.

“We have been paying water and sewerage tax since the government merged our areas with the city Corporation. Only a few months ago, we were provided metro water pipe connections.

Taxpayers in some interior parts of our area have not received piped water connection still,” said B Varadarajan, a retired government employee and president of Maduravoyal Residents Welfare Federation.

The residents of the IT hub in Sholinganallur claim that the authorities are not even considering their repeated petitions for basic amenities as most of them don’t have votes here. Harsh Koda, coordinator of Federation of OMR Residents Associations said, “In our residential township of 56 flats, we spend Rs 1 lakh on water and over Rs 60,000 per on sewerage every month.

We have been requesting them to even provide street lights. When we petitioned elected representatives, they brazenly refused to engage us by alleging that we don’t vote.”

“Old Sholinganallur, where the economically backward sections reside are prioritised while providing civic amenities. Our requests for basic needs are constantly turned away as most of us

residing in the newly developed Sholinganallur are migrants and do not have votes here. Elected representatives boldly tell us that extending amenities to our townships will not fetch them votes,” Hoda alleged. Works claimed to be executed by CMWSSB has been going on for over six years, but taxpayers have yet to see amenities reach them.

However, CMWSSB officials claimed that they expect to complete the ongoing water supply and underground sewerage schemes by the end of 2018, except Okkiyam- Thuraipakkam, which is expected to be completed in March 2019.