90-day deadline for buildings sans RWH, says Minister

“All kind of buildings in the State, including residential, apartments, commercial, industries and schools, should have RWH structures. The structures should be constructed considering the land measurement and built-up area. All these should be done in three months before the onset of the northeast monsoon,” said Velumani, after holding a review meeting at the Ripon Building on creating RWH structures in the local bodies.

The Minister held a review meeting on the inspection of RWH structures and the lake rejuvenation projects with officials of 14 Corporations, 122 municipalities, 528 town panchayats, 12,525 village panchayats in the State. He said all the apartment complexes in the city should set up recycling plants and those that do not have recycling plants would be issued notices within a week.

Velumani said that the committee formed to inspect the buildings in all the 200 wards of the Greater Chennai Corporation has inspected 2.35 lakh building and found the RWH structures in good condition in only 1.36 lakh buildings. Out of the 2.35 lakh building, there were no RWH structures in 60,461 buildings while the structures in 37,131 buildings were in need of renovation. “The buildings which does not have RWH were directed to construct it before October,” he said, adding that 232 unused wells were identified for desilting to let the rainwater into them.

Velumani also said that the Corporation has identified 210 unmaintained waterbodies. Of them, 22 were desilted last year. “The work on desilting 64 waterbodies, including Villivakkam tank, would be completed this month, while the works have commenced in the case of 53 waterbodies at a cost of 109 crore,” he said.

During the meeting, 14 private companies signed a memorandum of understanding with the Greater Chennai Corporation to restore 34 lakes. The Corporation is planning to restore 17 other lakes under various schemes.