Coimbatore Corporation draws up plan to route Selva Chinthamani tank surplus to Valankulam

The Coimbatore Corporation Council, at an urgent meeting held on Wednesday, passed a resolution to divert surplus water from Selva Chinthamani Tank to Valankulam through Reinforced Cement Concrete (RCC) and Mild Steel (MS) pipelines, at an estimated cost of ₹6 crore.

The meeting was presided over by Mayor K. Ranganayaki in the presence of Corporation Commissioner M. Sivaguru Prabakaran at the Victoria Town Hall.

According to the Corporation, surplus water released from Selvachintamani Lake flows onto roads and into houses during heavy inflow. The proposed diversion aims to prevent flooding and avoid the wastage of potable water.

The civic body noted that Valankulam currently contains sewage. It proposed to drain the wastewater and then mix surplus freshwater from Selvachintamani Lake to prevent water pollution in the lake.

The council approved taking up the work using Corporation general funds and resolved to appoint technical experts to prepare a detailed project report (DPR). It also decided to seek administrative sanction for the DPR by forwarding the proposal to the Director of Municipal Administration.

All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam floor leader R. Prabhakaran criticised the Corporation for convening an urgent meeting. He said the meeting, which was originally scheduled for Tuesday, was postponed due to the inauguration of a hockey ground by the Deputy Chief Minister. He added that urgent meetings should be convened only for a limited number of important matters, but more than 100 resolutions were placed and passed under the urgency tag without any discussions.

A total of 105 resolutions were placed and passed at the meeting. These included the construction of a bus stand at Thudiyalur at an estimated cost of ₹99.95 lakh, along with separate estimates of ₹99.95 lakh for road works, stormwater drain works and lighting works associated with the bus stand. The construction of a walking track, also forming part of the bus stand project, was placed with a separate estimate of ₹99.9 lakh.