Tambaram in Chennai to get underground sewage system by July

CHENNAI: Tambaram’s underground sewage system will be ready by July, municipality officials  said.  
Officials overseeing the Rs 160-crore project, which was sanctioned in 2009, said 80 per cent of the work had been completed. “Work has been completed in West Tambaram. We have to lay pipes in a few more sections of East Tambaram,” said a senior official in the Engineering Department. 

When asked about the prolonged delay, officials blamed the rocky topography of East Tambaram for hindering digging operations.A 165.95 km underground sewer line will traverse East and West Tambaram before reaching a treatment plant along the Outer Ring Road on Tambaram’s outskirts. The treated water will be released into the Adyar river. The system will also feature 16 pumping stations, from where sewage will be sent to the plant. 

The benefit of the underground sewage system are being felt in outlying areas, where work has begun. Residents claimed mosquito menace has come down drastically after open sewer lines were closed by the civic body. “The gutter (sewer) used to be filled with mosquito larvae and the municipality’s attempt to eradicate it never worked. Closing the sewer is the only permanent solution,” said Varun Ponnappan of Selaiyur.