Tamil Nadu Assembly Speaker M. Appavu on Monday inaugurated the work on laying drinking water pipes for about 30 km along the Tirunelveli – Kanniyakumari National Highway for bringing drinking water from the Tamirabharani River to 831 hamlets in six unions.
Speaking on the occasion, he said the ₹605.75 crore-project sanctioned by Chief Minister M.K. Stalin would supply drinking water to 3.66 lakh population in 831 villages in Palayamkottai, Cheranmahadevi, Kalakkad, Nanguneri, Valliyoor and Radhapuram unions. As Minister for Local Administration formally inaugurated the work on this project in January 2023, the work had moved to top gear now.
As part of this project, drinking water pipes had to be laid for 30 km along the Tirunelveli – Kanniyakumari National Highway from Ervadi intersection to Levingipuram. Hence, ₹53 lakh had been paid to the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) through TWAD Board, which was implementing the project.
“The pipe laying work will be expedited as we’ve planned to give drinking water connections to every house in the 831 hamlets within a year. Once the project is commissioned, each resident will get 55 litres of water a day,” he said.
He appealed to the local body representatives in Palayamkottai, Cheranmahadevi, Kalakkad, Nanguneri, Valliyoor and Radhapuram unions to extend their cooperation for laying the pipes and also for the construction of overhead tanks in their areas for ensuring decent supply of drinking water to the public.
The Speaker also laid foundation stone for additional library building in ward 9 of Valliyoor town panchayat and open auditorium stage in ward 6. While the additional library building will be built at the cost of ₹22 lakh, the auditorium stage will come-up on an outlay of ₹7 lakh.
TWAD Board Executive Engineer Ramalakshmi and local body representatives participated in the function.