Vijayawada: As part of South India tour to study development works and administrative activities, VMC corporators on Saturday visited Madurai Municipal Corporation in Tamil Nadu. The Mayor and Municipal Commissioner have explained the functioning of Madurai corporation and supply of drinking water and storm water management to Vijayawada municipal corporators.

Madurai Municipal Corporation Mayor Indrani Ponvasanth explained that they are supplying 24/7 drinking water to the residents of Madurai city with an investment of Rs 2,000 crore, through AMRUT Project.

The Mayor along with Commissioner Chitra Vijayan, welcomed VMC Deputy Mayor Avuthu Sri Srilaja Reddy, Floor Leader Venkata Satyanarayana, Deputy Floor Leader Ummadi Venkateswara Rao, and other corporators.

The Mayor introduced her city’s corporators to the visiting team. Floor Leader Venkata Satyanarayana explained the importance and significance of Vijayawada city, and the corporators introduced themselves.

Madurai Mayor Indrani mentioned that Madurai city has 100 wards and five zones, and it is the second-largest corporation in Tamil Nadu. Earlier, water supply was limited to just two hours in the morning and two hours in the evening. However, they have overcome this issue and are now providing 24/7 water supply.

Madurai Commissioner Chitra Vijayan explained that Madurai is a Smart City, and under the Smart City initiative, a five-storied Periyar Bus Stand was constructed with Rs 174.56 crore. Of these, two floors are basements, and three floors are above ground. Despite having two basement floors, stormwater management has been efficiently handled through strong drainage systems to prevent water stagnation. Sumps have been constructed with a capacity of four lakh cusecs to collect stormwater, which is later utilized for fire safety purposes. Later, the corporators were showed Periyar Bus Stand structure with the help of a map. The corporators studied the building’s structure, the strong water drain sumps, and how rainwater is used for fire safety purposes. They discussed that implementing similar innovative projects would be very beneficial for the development of Vijayawada as well.