Tiruvannamalai Corporation plans to build OHTs to provide uninterrupted water supply on Girivalam path

The Tiruvannamalai Corporation plans to construct at least two large overhead tanks (OHTs) on 14-km-long Girivalam Path near Arunachaleshwara temple soon to provide uninterrupted water supply to washrooms used by pilgrims along the route.
Officials of Tiruvannamalai Corporation said that existing civic amenities, mainly washrooms and water taps, remain inadequate due to the rising number of footfalls to the temple town, especially after the pandemic. 'Water supply especially to washrooms on Girivalam path remains the top priority due to a steady increase in pilgrim flow to the temple town. Water sources are also being identified for the purpose,' S. Selva Balaji, Commissioner, Tiruvannamalai Corporation, told The Hindu.
On an average, the town gets around three lakh visitors on Chitra Pournami days and 1.5 lakh tourists on weekends. During Karthigai Deepam festival last December (2024), around 40 lakh visitors attended it on Maha Deepam day alone.
Corporation officials said that temple and Girivalam path is covered by Adinamalai reserve forest (RF), which comprises around 900 hectares, and a home for spotted deer, wild boar, peacocks, wild cats and rabbits. Any open defecation on the route will not be unhygienic but also pose a threat to wild species in the forests.
On Tuesday, along with Corporation Commissioner Mr. Balaji, Collector K. Tharpagaraj inspected temple, Girivalam path and surrounding areas on providing additional civic amenities to pilgrims.
At present, the path has 57 washrooms including 35 of them were built by the District Rural Development Agency (DRDA). Most of the washrooms are in existence since 2002 when the path got its first batch of four toilets for pilgrims. Since then, mobile washrooms especially during festival seasons were hired on rental basis by the civic body.
Corporation officials said that an additional 223 new washrooms on the path will be built in the coming months under CSR initiative by public undertakings like BHEL, NLC and ONGC. In other words, each washroom, on an average, will have a space of 50 metres between each other.
The civic body plans to build at least two OHTs at a cost of Rs 30 crore for the purpose. Each tank will have a capacity of one lakh litres. Sathanur dam and Samuthiram lake will provide water for the new facility.
Currently, washrooms on the path are maintained with around one MLD (millions of liters per day) of water as against the actual need of four MLD. Borewells remain a key water source for it. The civic body gets around 22 MLD for its domestic needs and other purposes from these two water bodies every day. A small share of water from these water bodies will be diverted to new washrooms on the path, Corporation officials said.

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