STP at troubled site: Tirupur ryots plan to move court

The STP building in Chinnandipalayam was razed down after it sank by around one and a half feet and developed cracks all over the walls following heavy rains. This incident drew flak as activists blamed the administration for raising the building on a spot, where once a water body existed. The STP works commenced in 2018 at a cost estimate of Rs 29.3 crore. Residents alleged that government records have proved beyond doubt that this area was a water body in 1910. And, building works were taken up after dumping several hundred loads of mud in the locality.

After demolition, the contractor has resumed construction of the new STP building in the same spot.

“If the ‘Periakulam’ spread over an area of 70 acres in Andipalayam fills up, the surplus water flows into ‘Chinnakulam’ by flowing through a channel. The channel has now been blocked with concrete structure. The natural water way has been blocked to prevent water from flowing into the building premises area,” said Ponnusamy, president of Mangalam Village Water Users Association.

However the Corporation authorities denied any presence of water body in the spot and that no channel was blocked. “The contractor has already commenced work to raise a new building,” said an official.