Coimbatore Corporation has resumed work at the site earmarked for constructing the sewage treatment plant in Nanjundapuram. Sources in the civic body said that following a go ahead from the Southern Bench of the National Green Tribunal, it took up the preliminary work on Monday.

It had deployed earth movers to clear the portions of the 6.24 acre site, where it would resume the sewage treatment plant work, which got suspended as residents in the vicinity moved the Madras High Court and also the Bench.

Proposal

The corporation had initially proposed the sewage treatment plant at its sewage farm in Nanjundapuram in 2010 as part of the underground drainage project for the city under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission.

It had estimated the plant construction at ₹ 33.79 crore to treat around 40 million litres sewage a day.

The residents under the Mayflower Sakthi Garden Owners’ Association, Parsn Senior Citizens’ Group had moved the Madras High Court, the Tamilnadu Pollution Control Board’s Appellate Authority and also the NGT Southern Bench stating that the Corporation’s sewage treatment plant was too close their dwellings and therefore did not meet the minimum distance criterion and was a red category industry and therefore could not be established close to houses.

They also said that the treatment plant did not enjoy the Tamilnadu Pollution Control Board’s ‘consent to establish’ permission and the corporation had not followed due procedure while planning its establishment.

After litigations and counter litigations, the corporation sources said that they had now obtained the NGT’s Southern Bench’s go ahead to resume construction. The job after clearing the site would be to assess how much of the machinery already installed could be reused, for the contractor had already invested close to ₹17 crore by erecting machinery and taking up basic civil works.

After the assessment was done, the corporation would prepare a fresh proposal and write to the State Government’s technical committee for sanction to go ahead. It would also seek its clarification if the corporation could go ahead with the same contractor with a revised estimate or choose a new contractor.

To ensure that the work resumed continued without hindrances, the corporation sources said that the civic body had filed a caveat in the Supreme Court.

The completion of the Nanjundapuram treatment plant would take the underground drainage project closer to fruition, for it would it result in the corporation immediately providing house service connection in areas that would be serviced by the plant.