Cuddalore S Vimala appointed as a judge in High Court named

       Four new additional judges were appointed to the Madras High Court by the President, last Friday. Of them, one is from the Bar and the remaining three from the subordinate judiciary.

They are (in the order of seniority): 

         Advocate K Ravichandra Babu, Principal Sessions Judge P Devadass, Small Causes Court (Chennai) Chief Judge R Karuppiah and High Court Registrar-General S Vimala. With their appointment, the strength of the Bench has gone up to 53 against the sanctioned strength of 60.

They will be sworn-in by Chief Justice M Y Eqbal at a simple ceremony on the High Court premises at 10.40 am on Tuesday.

R KARUPPIAH

           R Karuppiah was born on April 7, 1953 in Panikkennenthal village in Sivaganga district. After obtaining his Bachelor’s degree in Arts from RDM College in Sivaganga, he did BL at Madurai Law College and later enrolled as an advocate in June 1981. He was appointed as the Principal District Munsif in Cuddalore in May 1986. He became the Registrar (Administration) of the Madurai bench of the Madras High Court in 2005, Chairman of the State Transport Appellate Tribunal in Chennai in 2008 and Chief Judge, Court of Small Causes, Chennai, in March 2010.

K RAVICHANDRA BABU

             Born on October 14, 1958 at Rishivandiyam village in Villupuram district, Ravichandra Babu is a science graduate. He completed his law degree at Madras Law College and enrolled as an advocate in September 1984. Initially, he joined the office of senior advocate R Gandhi. He has 27 years of experience in various fields of law.

P DEVADASS

            Born on May 15, 1955, Devadass is a native of Nathaikulam village in Virudhunagar district. After graduation at city-based Pachaiyappa’s College, he did his BL and ML at the Madras Law College. In ML, he was the university topper. Devadass began his career as District Munsif in May 1986. After holding various posts in the subordinate judiciary in the districts, he became the Principal Sessions Judge, Chennai. He has handled various sensational and important cases.

S VIMALA

           S Vimala was born on January 11, 1957 at Veeranam village in Cuddalore district. She obtained her BSc from the Sithalakshmi Ramaswamy College in Tiruchy, law degree from the Madras Law College and enrolled herself as an advocate in March 1983. She opened her career as Additional District Judge in Tiruchy in 2001. She was the first woman to hold the post of judge of the Mahila Court in Chennai. Vimala became director of Tamil Nadu State Judicial Academy during 2006-08. She was appointed as Registrar-General of the Madras High Court on February 16, last year.

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The Chennai City to get 180 mld of water from Veeranam lake

           The city will get additional 180 million litres per day (MLD) of water from Veeranam Lake in Cuddalore district after the water was released into the city water distribution system on Monday night.

           Metro Water sources said KP Munusamy, minister for Municipal Administration and Rural Development on Monday evening, released the water into the city distribution system. Also present were Metro Water managing director Dr K Gopal, Social Welfare Minister Selvi Ramajayam and Minister for Special Programme Implementation M C Sampath. “About 180 mld water will reach Porur Water Distribution System (WDS) by Tuesday evening after it gets treated at Vadakathur water treatment plant. From there it will be distributed to all water distribution system in the city,” Metro Water sources said.Veeranam Lake, which has an ayacut area of 48,000 acres, received water from the Mettur Dam after it was opened on June 6. 

         After the Grand Anaicut and Lower Anaicut was filled, the water was released into Vadavar Canal linking Veeranam Lake on June 29.“Yesterday, the water level at the lake was 43 feet and water storage reached 507 million cubic feet as soon as the pumping operation started,” said Metro Water sources. Veeranam Lake will be supplying water to the city distribution system till February and the city will have sufficient water till monsoon, the source said. As per Metro Water figures released on Tuesday, the water level in Poondi, Cholavaram, Redhills and Chemarambakam stood at 5,650 million cubic feet which is approximately 51 per cent of the storage level.

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Metrowater starts drawing water from Veeranam tank

            The tapping of 76 cusecs of water from the Veeranam tank for Chennai began on Sunday, after a gap of four months. As the storage in the tank has reached a comfortable level of 43 ft, the water supply has been resumed to the metropolis.

           It may be noted that the water released from Mettur dam on June 9 has been directed to the Keelanai where after the water level has reached a significant height it has been taken through the Vadavar to the Veeranam tank at the rate of 1,800 cusecs. The almost dry Veeranam tank, therefore, got filled up fast. However, a section of the farmers have voiced concern over the availability of water for raising kuruvai crops.

          President of the Vettuvaikkal and Naraikkal Eri Pasana Vivasayigal Sangam K.V. Elangeeran stated that it was an unwritten rule that priority in the utilisation of the Veeranam tank water would be accorded to irrigation. But now the officials seemed to be taking a hurried measure to feed the pipeline to Chennai. For instance, the discharge through the Vadakku Rajan Vaikkal and the Therkku Rajan Vaikkal was only in the region of 100-150 cusecs. The quantum was hardly sufficient to meet the requirements of the kuruvai paddy crop. 

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Along ECR, Chennai’s 3rd desal plant

         A third desalination plant will come up at Pattipulam village along East Coast Road, serving the new areas of Greater Chennai.

           With the city all set to become bigger, covering nearly 42 urban local bodies of Kancheepuram and Tiruvallur districts, the Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board will zero in on a consultant to prepare a detailed project report for a desalination plant at Pattipulam. The site is located a few kilometres away from the upcoming Nemmeli desalination plant.

             Using a reverse-osmosis process, the plant will supply 200 million litres (MLD) of water per day – nearly 50% of the additional water needs of the city. Pattipulam plant will guarantee water supply to the IT corridor and southern suburbs, which are seeing a boom in new housing construction. Save Alandur, the rest of the local bodies does not get piped water supply. The city does not have a perennial water source for its 50 lakh populace and relies heavily on surface water sources such as Poondi, Cholavaram and Red Hills reservoirs and groundwater sources from Araniar and Kosasthaliar basin. Neighbouring Andhra stretches out its helping hand by supplying water from Krishna at times, while Veeranam tank in Kattumannarkoil in Cuddalore district rescues Chennai: A third desalination plant will come up at Pattipulam village along East Coast Road, serving the new areas of Greater Chennai.

              With the city all set to become bigger, covering nearly 42 urban local bodies of Kancheepuram and Tiruvallur districts, the Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board will zero in on a consultant to prepare a detailed project report for a desalination plant at Pattipulam. The site is located a few kilometres away from the upcoming Nemmeli desalination plant.  Using a reverse-osmosis process, the plant will supply 200 million litres (MLD) of water per day – nearly 50% of the additional water needs of the city. Pattipulam plant will guarantee water supply to the IT corridor and southern suburbs, which are seeing a boom in new housing construction. Save Alandur, the rest of the local bodies does not get piped water supply.

            The city does not have a perennial water source for its 50 lakh populace and relies heavily on surface water sources such as Poondi, Cholavaram and Red Hills reservoirs and groundwater sources from Araniar and Kosasthaliar basin. Neighbouring Andhra stretches out its helping hand by supplying water from Krishna at times, while Veeranam tank in Kattumannarkoil in Cuddalore district rescues all through the year. Upon expansion, the water needs of the additional 30 lakh populace will be 400 MLD. "The consultant for the Pattiapulam plant will be identified in July. The firm will be asked to conduct feasibility studies and prepare a detailed project report in six months from the date of award of contract," said a senior government official.

            "The facility will come up at Pattipulam village in an extent of 203.77 acres, owned by Alavandar Trust. Metrowater will get the land on lease for the city's sustainable water supply," the official added.  The previous Karunanidhi regime inaugurated a 100 MLD desalination plant at Kattupalli village in Minjur in north Chennai exactly a year ago, while the second plant is under construction at Nemmeli in south Chennai.  "At least 75% of the works are over in Nemmeli, except critical marine-related installations. The labourers are racing against time to complete the civil works by December this year, the original schedule of the programme," government sources told TOI.

            But the city still faces a shortfall in meeting the water demand. The water board has proposed to get funding from the centre for the new plant, with the support of the state government.  The consultants have to collect data like sea water, quality of water, temperature, salinity, seasonal variations, details of high tide and low tide and so on. The study will also assess the environmental impact, besides finding out a location for tapping the required power from the electricity board's power grid.  Of the 100 MLD from Minjur plant, 85 MLD caters to the residential areas of north Chennai and the rest to the Manali industrial belt. 

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Veeranam tank goes dry

The tank in Cuddalore is in need of attention.

CUDDALORE: 

             The Veeranam tank located at Kattumannarkoil in Cuddalore district has gone dry, exposing the vast stretch of clay soil. It reveals a thick layer of siltat covering the entire tank bed, reducing its water-holding capacity.

              It had been stated earlier that the tank bed would be deepened by 1.5 feet for which a sum of Rs. 16 crore had been earmarked. However, only a few earthmovers had been pressed into service, that too on the periphery of the tank, sources said. According to K.V. Elankeeran of the Vettuvaikkal-Naraikkal Eri Paasana Vivasayigal Sangam, deployment of only a handful of earthmovers would take a long time to complete the task.

                   The soil thus scooped out of the tank bed was supposed to be utilised for raising and strengthening the banks of the Kollidam as part of flood control measures. Mr. Elankeeran expressed the opinion that the deepening work ought to be expedited or else it would be stalled by the southwest monsoon. The delayed execution would also affect the exercise of firming up the banks of the Kollidam, he added.

           The maximum height of water in the tank was said to be 47.5 ft, but in reality, it would be much less. Therefore, he had sent a telegram to the Public Works Department stating that it was the time the officials carried out a survey to assess the real capacity of the tank. The heavy siltat had confounded the water managers as well as ayacutdars about the holding capacity of the tank. As of now, about 48,000 acres benefited in the catchment areas of the tank.

             After completion of the deepening work, the ayacut area could be considerably expanded, and, therefore, a survey would enable scientific planning and utilisation of the scarce resource, Mr. Elankeeran added.

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Rs 635.54 crore sanctioned for four districts

Analysis: PWD Secretary K. Dhanavel inspecting the Veeranam tank in Cuddalore district.

CUDDALORE: 

            The State government has sanctioned a sum of Rs. 635.54 crore under the Flood Management Programme for taking up permanent flood protection works in the four districts of Thanjavaur, Nagapattinam, Tiruvallur and Cuddalore, according to K. Dhanavel, Secretary, Public Works Department.

             After inspecting the Veeranam tank, the Velliangal Odai and the Paravanar, along with Collector P. Seetharman and District Revenue Officer S. Natarajan, he told presspersons that the State used to suffer heavy flood damage during the north-east monsoon every year, particularly during November and December. In the current rainy season, almost all major dams, tanks, ponds and canals were full and some were overflowing.

           Therefore, to prevent the recurring losses on account of floods, the government had earmarked a major part of the funds, Rs. 375.90 crore, for standardisation and strengthening of the banks of the Kollidam in two phases. The first phase would be executed from the head of the Grand Anicut to the Lower Anicut in Thanjavur district and the second phase from the Lower Anicut to the sea front in Cuddalore district. Mr. Dhanavel said that to protect the Cuddalore and Panruti towns from swollen rivers such as the Pennaiyar, the Gedilam, the Uppanar, the Paravanar and the South Malatter, a sum of Rs. 68.41 crore had been set aside.

               Comprehensive flood management works in the Vellar basin, comprising Cuddalore and Villupuram ditricts, would be taken up at a cost of Rs. 164.32 crore. Protective measures along the Araniyar would be taken up at a cost of Rs. 12.41 crore, both on the upstream and downstream of the A.N. Kuppam anicut, and, from the downstream of the Lakshmipuram anicut to Pulicat creek in Tiruvallur district.

              Mr. Dhanavel said that protective measures would be put in place to the Kosasthalaiyar from Napalayam to the sea mouth in Tiruvallur ditrict at a cost of Rs. 14.50 crore. All these works would be completed before March 2012, he said. He also noted that water level in the Veeranam tank had been kept at certain height with a view to meeting the requirements of ayacutdars and drinking water needs of Chennai.

              However, residents in the Veeranam area as well as farmers had expressed an opinion that during the rainy season, the storage could be kept at a reasonable level to avert floods. Their views would be technically examined by experts, he said. The damaged shutters in the water sources would also repaired soon, Mr. Dhanavel added.

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