Rs 7.7 lakh for sintex water tank? Tirupur corporation, MLA butt of jokes online

TIRUPUR: How much is too much for a sintex water tank? The residents of the Tirupur Municipal Corporation believe the line should be drawn at Rs 7.7 lakh. Once photographs of a sintex water tank displaying an installation cost of Rs 7.7 lakh went viral on Sunday, Tamil Nadu's meme-makers went to town and Tirupur (South) MLA S Gunasekaran, who inaugurated the tank, became the butt of many a joke. 

Municipal corporation officials, however, hastened to clarify that the project cost displayed on the tank was wrong, and said a new board would be put up next to the tank with details of the expenditure.  
Speaking to The New Indian Express, Gunasekaran said that the water tank was installed in the first street of Eswaramoorthy Layout. "This project was funded by the city municipal corporation under the Common Development Fund and not the MLA Local Area Development (MLALAD) fund. As the locality comes under Zone 4 (Ward 50) in Tirupur (South) constituency, I was invited to inaugurate the tank on October 7. Even during the function, I did not notice the cost displayed on the tank as it was kept on an elevated level," he said.

When the MLA's friends brought the issue to his notice, he asked the officials to rectify the error and display a new board with the correct details.

A municipal corporation official said that the civic body would soon fix a new board near the tank. According to the civic body, the total project cost of Rs 7.7 lakh, includes expenditure on the motor room (Rs 67,500), construction and flushing (Rs 41,800), electric motor pump (Rs 54,347), three-phase panel board (Rs 16,352), 246 metres of borewell cable and pipes (Rs 1.43 lakh), 824.45 metres of distribution pipes (Rs 2.39 lakh), electric facilities and devices (Rs 80,000), a 3,000-litre Sintex tank (Rs 26,100) and GST (Rs 80,231).